Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of glucocorticoids(GC)treatment on the expression of CD62L in CD4⁺ CD25⁺ T cells in peripheral blood monocytes(PBMC)of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of CD62L in CD4⁺ CD25⁺ T cells in PBMC of 35 SLE patients(10 untreated,25 treated with GC)and 12 normal human controls.Results The frequencies of both CD4⁺CD25⁺ CD62L⁺ T cells and CD4⁺CD25⁺ CD62L^- T cells were signifi-cantly decreased in untreated SLE patients compared with the controls[(4.12±3.68)% vs(9.27±4.44)%,P<0.05 and(1.15±0.99)% vs(4.25±2.21)%,P<0.05].The frequency of CD4⁺CD25⁺ CD62L⁺T cells in SLE patients treated with GC increased greatly;this increase was related to the dose of GC.The frequency of CD4⁺ CD25⁺ CD62L⁺T cells in SLE patients treated with high-dose GC was higher than that in untreated SLE patients and normal controls[(14.84±6.41)% vs(4.12±3.68)%,P<0.05 and(14.84±6.41)vs(9.27±4.44)%,P<0.05],while that in SLE patients treated with low-dose GC was only higher than that in untreated SLE patients[(9.07±5.27)% vs(4.12±3.68)%,P<0.05)]. No difference was found in the frequency of CD4⁺CD25⁺ CD62L^-T cells between either SLE patients treated with high-dose GC or those with low-dose GC and the controls.The frequency of CD4⁺ CD25⁺CD62L⁺T cells had a negative correlation with disease activity of SLE(SLEDAI).Conclusion GC treatment can decrease the disease activity in SLE by upregulating the generation of CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells,especially CD4⁺ CD25⁺ CD62L⁺T cells,hence promoting peripheral immunotolerance.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, Glucocorticoids, T-lymphocytes