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Defective proliferative response of T lymphocytes from patients with inactive systemic lupus erythematosus
M P Hernández-Fuentes1, E Reyes, A Prieto
1Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Principe de Asturias, Madrid, Spain.
Objective:
To further define the pattern of alterations in the activation and apoptosis of T lymphocytes in patients with inactive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) through analysis of a large series of individuals.
Methods:
We isolated CD2+ peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from 41 patients with inactive SLE and analyzed their proliferative and apoptotic responses to polyclonal activation.
Results:
In 19 of 41 (47%) patients, a low proliferative response to polyclonal mitogens was found. This defective response was inversely associated with an increased apoptotic response and increased expression of CD95 and CD45RO antigens.
Conclusion:
We found that 2 groups of patients with inactive disease can be defined according to the functional behavior of their T lymphocytes, as defined by the proliferative and apoptotic responses to mitogenic signals.