复发性阿弗他溃疡患者可溶性程序性死亡受体1及可溶性程序性死亡配体1表达与免疫功能的相关性

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the possible role and significance of soluble programmed death-1 (sPD-1)? /soluble programmed death ligand 1 (sPD-L1) in the immune pathogeneses of recurrent aphthous ulcer (RAU).MethodsA total of 30 RAU cases (18 cases of minor RAU, 5 cases of major RAU, and 7 cases of herpetiform ulcers) were enrolled in this study. A total of 18 healthy people served as controls. Lymphocyte subsets (CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD19⁺, and CD16⁺+56⁺) were investigated by flow cytometric analysis. Humoral immunity (IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, and C4) was explored by nephelometry immunoassay. The sPD-1 and sPD-L1 protein levels in the sera of RAU patients were investigated by enzyme-linked immu-nosorbent assay. The correlations of the sPD-1 and sPD-L1 protein levels with the immune status and clinical characteristics of the RAU patients were analyzed by SPSS 19.0.ResultsThe number of CD4⁺T cells decreased and the levels of IgM antibodies increased in the RAU patients relative to those in the normal controls (P<0 .05). the spd-1 and spd-l1 protein levels in the rau patients were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). meanwhile, the spd-1 and spd-l1 protein levels in the patients with minor and major rau were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). by contrast, no significant difference was found in the patients with herpetiform rau (p>0.05). Positive correlations were noted between the sPD-1 protein level and the CD19⁺cell frequency or C4 level (r₁=0.389, P₁=0.034; r₂=0.382, P₂=0.037).ConclusionCellular immune hypofunction and humoral immunity disorders were found in the RAU patients. The PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, which might be influenced by the involvement of sPD-1 and sPD-L1 proteins to a certain extent, may play some roles in the immune pathogenesis of RAU.