Abstract:

Objective To investigate the action mechanism of Th17 cells in immunoinflammatory response in systemic lupus erythematosus （SLE）. Methods Reverse-transcription PCR was performed to measure the mRNA expression of the retinoic acid receptor-related orphan nuclear receptor RORγt in peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMCs） from 12 patients with active SLE, 9 patients with inactive SLE and 12 normal human controls. Data were statistically analyzed by approximate F test （Welch test） and Dunnett's T3 multiple comparison test （corrected）. Results In the case of RORγt mRNA expression in PBMCs, significant differences existed among the 3 groups （F = 23.286, P < 0.01）; in detail, the patients with active SLE were significantly higher than patients with inactive SLE and normal controls（1.06 ± 0.44 vs. 0.65 ± 0.25, F = 2.453, P < 0.05; 1.06 ± 0.44 vs. 0.22 ± 0.08, F = 6.504, P < 0.05）, and the patients with inactive SLE were significantly increased compared with the normal controls（F = 3.343, P < 0.05）. The expression level of RORγt mRNA was significantly positively correlated with SLE disease activity index （rp = 0.623, P < 0.01）. Conclusions There is a polarization of Th17 cells in patients with SLE. To antagonize the transcription factor RORγt, which plays an essential role in the regulation of Th17 cell differentiation, may facilitate the control of SLE via attenuating the immunoinflammatory response.

Key words: RORγt