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Published on: October 17, 2017
Aberrant monocyte subsets in patients with Behçet's disease
Chaoran Li1, Jinjing Liu2, Xin Yu2
1Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory, National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Shuaifuyuan, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100730, China; Department of Rheumatology,Peking University Shougang Hospital, Beijing 100144, China.
Behçet's Disease (BD) involves altered monocyte populations, specifically increased intermediate monocytes (IM) and decreased non-classical monocytes (NCM). These changes correlate with disease activity and impact immune responses, suggesting a role in BD pathogenesis.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Rheumatology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Monocytes are crucial immune cells with diverse subsets, but their specific role in Behçet's Disease (BD) is not well understood.
- Understanding monocyte subset dynamics is key to elucidating the pathogenesis of complex inflammatory conditions like BD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the proportions, phenotypes, and functions of classical monocytes (CM), intermediate monocytes (IM), and non-classical monocytes (NCM) in Behçet's Disease patients.
- To correlate these monocyte alterations with disease activity and treatment response in BD.
Main Methods:
- Flow cytometry was used to analyze monocyte subset populations and surface marker expression (CD11b, CD64).
- Functional assays assessed cytokine production (TNF-α, IL-6) and T-helper 1 (Th1) cell differentiation.
- Intracellular staining for phosphorylated signaling proteins (p-p65, p-p38) was performed.
Main Results:
- Behçet's Disease patients exhibited a higher proportion of IM and a lower proportion of NCM compared to healthy controls.
- These alterations in IM and NCM populations were linked to disease activity and normalized after treatment.
- Enhanced expression of CD11b and CD64 was observed on all monocyte subsets in BD patients.
- BD CM promoted TNF-α and IL-6 production and Th1 differentiation, while BD IM enhanced IL-6 production.
- Increased levels of phosphorylated p65 (p-p65) were found in BD CM, and elevated p-p65 and p-p38 were noted in BD IM.
Conclusions:
- Aberrant populations of intermediate and classical monocytes are characteristic of Behçet's Disease.
- These monocyte subset alterations and their enhanced signaling pathways likely contribute to the pathogenesis of BD.
- Targeting these aberrant monocyte populations may offer therapeutic strategies for Behçet's Disease.
