Study of the Quantity and Function of Regulatory T Cells In the Hemocytopenic Patients with Positive BMMNC-Coombs Test

To investigate the quantity and function of regulatory T cells in the IRP, then explore the significance of Treg cells in the pathogenesis of IRP. Methods Sixty-two patients with IRP and twenty-four healthy donors were enrolled in this study. The ratios of CD4⁺CD25⁺/CD4⁺ and CD4⁺CD25⁺CD127^low/CD4⁺ in bone marrow were examined with flow cytometry. The levels of IL-2, ATGF-β were tested with ELISA. The expressions of FoxP3 and Galectin-10 mRNA in BMMNC were measured by semiquantitive RT-PCR. Results The levels of IL-2, ATGF-β in bone marrow of untreated or recovered IRP patients (5.64±1.70, 6.19±2.53; 1.79±0.67, 1.86±0.76) were significantly lower than them of normal controls (7.91±3.71,2.48±0.94) (p<0.05); The ratio of CD4⁺CD25⁺/CD4⁺ cells in bone marrow of untreated IRP patients (22.46±9.47) was significantly lower than that of recovered IRP patients or normal controls (27.10±7.08, 30.59±8.58) (p<0.05); The ratio of CD4⁺CD25⁺CD127^low/CD4⁺ cells in bone marrow of untreated IRP patients (7.18±2.72) was significantly lower than that of recovered IRP patients or normal controls (9.07±4.67, 10.44±3.24) (p<0.05). The relative mRNA expressions of FoxP3 and galentin-10 were 0.34±0.25, 0.69±0.51, 0.82±0.65 and0.66±0.11, 0.74±0.11, 0.76±0.09 in three groups, respectively. The expressions of the two factors in untreated IRP patients were significantly lower than them in recovered IRP patients or normal controls (p<0.05). Conclusions There exist abnormalities in quantity and function of Treg cells in IRP patients which might play important role in the pathogenesis of IRP.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.