Abstract: Objective To investigate the mRNA espression level of Caspase-1 and Caspase-3 in the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) and its association with lymphocyte apoptosis. Methods Reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RT-PCR) technique was applied to semiquantitatively analyze the mRNA expression of Caspase-1 and Caspase-3 in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 34 active SLE patients and 30 healthy subjects. Results Compared with normal controls, the mean levels of Caspase-1 or Caspase-3 mRNA expression in active SLE group was significantly increased(P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). But there was no statistical difference in the positive rate of Caspase-1 and Caspase-3 expression between the active SLE patients and the normal controls (P>0.05). Conclusion There are increased expressin of Caspase-1 and Caspase-3 in the PBMC of SLE patients, which may be involved in the lymphocyte apoptosis of SLE patients.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, Caspase 1, Caspase 3, Apoptosis