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Published on: January 7, 2019
Fyn and CD70 expression in CD4+ T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
Anna Kozlowska1, Pawel Hrycaj, Jan K Lacki
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
Objective:
CD4+ T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) display defective function that contributes to abnormal activation of B cells and autoantibody production.
Methods:
We compared the transcript and protein levels of Fyn and CD70 in CD4+ T cells from patients with SLE (n = 41) and healthy individuals (n = 34). The CD4+ T cells were isolated by positive biomagnetic separation technique. The quantitative analysis of messenger RNA was performed by reverse transcription and real-time quantitative PCR. The protein contents in the CD4+ T cells were determined by Western blotting analysis.
Results:
We observed significantly higher levels of Fyn (p = 0.03) and CD70 (p = 0.029) transcripts in SLE CD4+ T cells than in controls. There was a significant increase in CD70 protein levels (p < 0.0001), but not Fyn protein levels (p = 0.081) in CD4+ T cells from patients with SLE compared to healthy individuals. In the group with high disease activity [SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) >/= 9], we observed a significantly higher Fyn protein content than in controls (p = 0.030). There was no correlation between Fyn and CD70 protein levels in SLE CD4+ T cells and disease activity as expressed in the SLEDAI scale.
Conclusion:
We confirmed previous observations of higher expression of CD70 in CD4+ T cells from patients with SLE. Our findings suggest that increased Fyn protein content in CD4+ T cells can be associated with high SLE disease activity.
