类风湿性关节炎患者外周血芳香烃受体表达与Th17细胞相关性研究

目的 检测类风湿性关节炎患者(RA)外周血单个核细胞芳香烃受体(AhR)的表达情况,分析其表达与Th17细胞相关性并初步探讨AhR在RA发病中的作用机制.方法 Ficoll密度梯度法分离75例RA患者(其中活动期RA患者40例,缓解期RA患者35例)及70例健康对照者外周血单个核细胞(PBMC),酶联免疫吸附实验(EUSA)检测细胞裂解上清中AhR蛋白表达.流式细胞术检测75例RA患者Th17细胞表达比例.分析RA患者AhR蛋白表达与Th17细胞比例及其他临床指标的相关性.结果 RA患者PBMC内AhR表达(91.25±15.27) ng/L]高于健康对照组(41.81 ±9.72) ng/L],差异有统计学意义(t=3.191,P＜0.01).活动期RA患者AhR表达与缓解期RA患者表达差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05).RA患者PBMC中AhR水平与Th17细胞表达呈正相关(r=0.361,P=0.0015).RA患者PBMC中AhR表达与血清IL-17水平呈正相关,与其他临床指标无相关性(r=0.324,P=0.006).结论 RA患者PBMC中AhR表达升高,且与Th17细胞和血清中IL-17水平呈正相关,推测RA中AhR可能正向调控Th17细胞分化,促进IL-17表达.

Association of the expression of AhR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and Th17 cell in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objectives To explore the relation between the expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and Thl7 cell and to investigate its clinical significance through detecting the expression of AhR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods PBMCs from peripheral blood were isolated from 75 RA patients (40 active RA patients,35 remission RA patients) and 70 healthy controls with Ficoll density gradient method.AhR in cell lysate supernatant was measured by ELISA.The proportions of Th17 cell of 75 RA patients were detected by flow cytometry (FCM).The correlations among the expression of AhR and the proportion of Th17 cell and other clinical indexes in RA patients were also analyzed.t test and Spearman's correlation were used to analyze the data.Results The expression level of AhR in PBMC of RA patients (91.25 ± 15.27) ng/L was significantly higher than that of healthy controls (41.81 ± 9.72) ng/L,and the difference was statistically significant (t =3.191,P ＜ 0.01).The expression of AhR in active RA patients and remission RA patients was not statistically significant(P ＞ 0.05).The expression level of AhR in PBMC of RA patients was positively correlated with the expression of Th17 cell (r =0.361,P =0.0015).There was a positive correlation between the expression level of AhR in PBMC of RA patients and the serum level of IL-17 (r =0.324,P =0.006),but the expression level of AhR was with no correlation with other clinical indexes.Conclusion The expression of AhR in PBMC was significantly increased in RA patients and that was positively correlative with Th17 cell and the serum level of IL-17.AhR in PBMC may positively regulate the differentiation of Thl7 cell.