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Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid

The pathogenesis of bullous pemphigoid (BP) is characterized by the T cell-dependent production of autoantibodies. Recent studies have indicated that follicular T helper cells (Tfh), the key modulator of B cell activation and autoantibody production, are critical in the development of several autoim...

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Autores principales: Li, Qiuju, Liu, Zhenfeng, Dang, Erle, Jin, Liang, He, Zheng, Yang, Luting, Shi, Xiaowei, Wang, Gang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3702561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23861861
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068145
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author Li, Qiuju
Liu, Zhenfeng
Dang, Erle
Jin, Liang
He, Zheng
Yang, Luting
Shi, Xiaowei
Wang, Gang
author_facet Li, Qiuju
Liu, Zhenfeng
Dang, Erle
Jin, Liang
He, Zheng
Yang, Luting
Shi, Xiaowei
Wang, Gang
author_sort Li, Qiuju
collection PubMed
description The pathogenesis of bullous pemphigoid (BP) is characterized by the T cell-dependent production of autoantibodies. Recent studies have indicated that follicular T helper cells (Tfh), the key modulator of B cell activation and autoantibody production, are critical in the development of several autoimmune diseases. Tfh cells perform their functions via IL-21, their hallmark cytokine. In the present study, the frequencies of Tfh cells were investigated in the peripheral blood samples of BP patients to evaluate whether Tfh cells involve in this clinical entity. Significantly higher Tfh cell counts were observed in the peripheral blood of BP patients than those in healthy controls (median: 11.25% vs. 4.95%, respectively; P<0.001). Additionally, the serum IL-21 levels in BP patients were higher than those of the healthy controls (median: 103.98 pg/mL vs 46.77 pg/mL, respectively; P<0.001). The frequencies of Tfh cells and IL-21 levels were both positively correlated with anti-BP180-NC16A autoantibody titers (R = 0.712, P<0.01 and R = 0.578, P = 0.030, respectively). After effective therapy, the frequencies of Tfh cells as well as the serum IL-21 levels in BP patients decreased along with clinical improvement. Most importantly, Tfh depleted CD4(+) T cells and anti-IL-21 neutralization antibody could inhibit the T cell-induced B cell activation and secretion of BP autoantibody in vitro. Those results suggest that Tfh cells play an important role in autoantibody production and are involved in the pathogenesis of BP.
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spelling pubmed-37025612013-07-16 Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid Li, Qiuju Liu, Zhenfeng Dang, Erle Jin, Liang He, Zheng Yang, Luting Shi, Xiaowei Wang, Gang PLoS One Research Article The pathogenesis of bullous pemphigoid (BP) is characterized by the T cell-dependent production of autoantibodies. Recent studies have indicated that follicular T helper cells (Tfh), the key modulator of B cell activation and autoantibody production, are critical in the development of several autoimmune diseases. Tfh cells perform their functions via IL-21, their hallmark cytokine. In the present study, the frequencies of Tfh cells were investigated in the peripheral blood samples of BP patients to evaluate whether Tfh cells involve in this clinical entity. Significantly higher Tfh cell counts were observed in the peripheral blood of BP patients than those in healthy controls (median: 11.25% vs. 4.95%, respectively; P<0.001). Additionally, the serum IL-21 levels in BP patients were higher than those of the healthy controls (median: 103.98 pg/mL vs 46.77 pg/mL, respectively; P<0.001). The frequencies of Tfh cells and IL-21 levels were both positively correlated with anti-BP180-NC16A autoantibody titers (R = 0.712, P<0.01 and R = 0.578, P = 0.030, respectively). After effective therapy, the frequencies of Tfh cells as well as the serum IL-21 levels in BP patients decreased along with clinical improvement. Most importantly, Tfh depleted CD4(+) T cells and anti-IL-21 neutralization antibody could inhibit the T cell-induced B cell activation and secretion of BP autoantibody in vitro. Those results suggest that Tfh cells play an important role in autoantibody production and are involved in the pathogenesis of BP. Public Library of Science 2013-07-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3702561/ /pubmed/23861861 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068145 Text en © 2013 Li et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Li, Qiuju
Liu, Zhenfeng
Dang, Erle
Jin, Liang
He, Zheng
Yang, Luting
Shi, Xiaowei
Wang, Gang
Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid
title Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid
title_full Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid
title_fullStr Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid
title_full_unstemmed Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid
title_short Follicular Helper T Cells (Tfh) and IL-21 Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Bullous Pemphigoid
title_sort follicular helper t cells (tfh) and il-21 involvement in the pathogenesis of bullous pemphigoid
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3702561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23861861
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068145
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