Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C1832526 (PCC)
 5,967 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are recognized as a distinct CD4(+) helper T-cell subset, which provides for B-cell activation and production of specific antibody responses, and play a critical role in the development of autoimmune disease. So far, only one study investigated the circulating Tfh cells increased in a subset of SLE patients. Since relatively little is known about the Tfh cells in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, in this study, Tfh-cell frequency, related cytokine IL-21, and transcription factor Bcl-6 were investigated in 53 patients with RA and 31 health controls. Firstly, we found that the frequency of CD4(+)CXCR5(+)ICOS(high) Tfh cells was increased significantly in the peripheral blood of RA patients, compared with that in healthy controls. It is known that Tfh cells are critical for directing the development of an antibody response by germinal centers B cells; secondly, we observed that the Tfh-cell frequency is accompanied by the level of anti-CCP antibody in RA patients. Furthermore, expression of Bcl-6 mRNA and plasma IL-21 concentrations in RA patients was increased. Taken together, these findings have shown that the increased frequency of circulating Tfh cells is correlated with elevated levels of anti-CCP antibody, indicating the possible involvement of Tfh cells in the disease progression of RA.
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PMID:Increased frequency of circulating follicular helper T cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. 2264 68

Follicular helper T(Tfh) cells and follicular regulatory T(Tfr) cells are critical for the development and maintenance of germinal center and humoral immune responses. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the dysregulation of either Tfh or Tfr cells contributes to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the numbers of Tfh and Tfr cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Twenty-four patients with RA patients and 20 health controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. We analyzed the numbers of Tfh (CD4+ CXCR5+ PD-1hi) cells and Tfr (CD4+ CXCR5+CD127lo) cells in 24 RA patients via flow cytometry. The level of the soluble PD-1 and its ligands (sPD-L1 and sPDL-2) were examined by ELISA. Flow cytometry revealed that both circulating Tfh and Tfr cells were increased in RA patients compared with HCs. More importantly, the ratio of Tfr/Tfh was decreased, indicating a disruption of the balance between Tfh and Tfr. The Tfr/Tfh ratio was inversely correlated with level of serum CRP, ESR, RF, anti-CCP, IgG and DAS28 index. We also found that the serum level of sPD-1 was significantly elevated in the RA patients, which was positively correlated with CRP, ESR and the number of Tfh cells. These results indicate that an imbalance of circulating Tfr and Tfh cells may be involved in the immunopathogenesis of RA and may provide novel insight for the development of RA therapies.
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PMID:Imbalance of circulating Tfr/Tfh ratio in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. 3028 46