Tumor necrosis factor-? blockade treatment decreased CD154 (CD40-ligand) expression in rheumatoid arthritis.

ABSTRACT:

Contexts

CD154 (commonly referred to as CD40-ligand) is a critical T cell factor that participates in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and is over-expressed in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). TNF-? blockade treatment had dramatic efficacy in RA.

Objective

To investigate whether TNF-? blockade treatment can inhibit CD154 expression in RA.

Methods

Blood samples were collected from 33 patients with rheumatoid arthritis before and 3 months after TNF-? blockade treatment. Clinical serological data determined by standard assays and T cell CD154 expression levels determined by flow cytometry were statistically analyzed for these two time points.

Results

The percentage of CD154 expression on gated CD4+ T cells of PBMCs from RA patients after 3 months TNF-? blockade treatment was significantly lower than before treatment (2.94 ± 3.21% vs. 7.21 ± 5.64%; p = 0.0001). The disease activity and anti-CCP antibody levels were also significantly reduced after TNF-? blockade treatment. The CD154 expression levels were positively correlated with disease activity index DAS28, and CRP. The post-stimulated CD154 expression percentage of purified CD4+ T cells between baseline and after TNF-? blockade treatment was not significantly different (p = 0.221). Baseline CD154 levels were positively correlated with treatment-induced changes in DAS28 (p = 0.014; r2 = 0.187).

Conclusions

TNF-? blockade treatment significantly decreased the CD154 expression on CD4+ T cells, disease activity and anti-CCP antibody simultaneously in RA patients. However TNF-? blockade did not impair T cell capacity to express CD154 after stimulation. These results suggest that decreased CD154 expression after TNF-? blockade may be due to decreased RA disease activity but not direct inhibition of CD154 responsiveness of T cells.

SUBMITTER: Tung CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5570341 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature