Dhanesh Pitidhammabhorn. The comparative study of gene expression profile in PBMC of SLE during active and inactive stage, the significance of apoptosis, and the detection of polymorphism of candidate genes involved in SLE pathogenesis . Doctoral Degree(Microbiology). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2006.
The comparative study of gene expression profile in PBMC of SLE during active and inactive stage, the significance of apoptosis, and the detection of polymorphism of candidate genes involved in SLE pathogenesis
Abstract:
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disorder
which affects various organs and systems. To understand the pathogenic mechanism of
such disease, differential gene expression profiles between active and inactive SLE
were investigated by cDNA array analysis. Aberrant apoptosis and corpse clearance
are thought to have a pathogenic role in SLE. By detection of chromatin condensation,
30% of apoptosis was detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from
Thai active SLE patients. Using cDNA array screening, 17 apoptosis-related genes
were up-regulated in active SLE and were selected for further study. Among those
stimulated genes, TNF and the TNF-receptor family were drastically up-regulated in
active SLE. Moreover, the degree of apoptosis correlated with the level of TNF-α in
plasma, suggesting that TNF family plays a role in induction of apoptosis in SLE. To
verify this hypothesis, PBMC from healthy individuals was treated with plasma from
active SLE patients in both the presence and absence of etanercept, a TNF antagonist.
The etanercept treated active SLE plasma induced 26.43% lower level of apoptosis
compared to active SLE plasma alone.
Based on the results from this study, together with those from previous studies,
4 candidate genes i.e. TNF-α, CTLA4, PTPN22, and TP53 were selected on the basis
of their significances in SLE pathogenesis. An association study between our
candidate genes and SLE susceptibility was done by genotyping in 566 patients and
243 controls. CTLA4 A+49G and an A+49G containing haplotype were found to have
associations with the disease. Moreover, an intronic SNP in PTPN22 and its 2
haplotypes were reported to associate with SLE for the first time. However, no
association with SLE was observed in TNF-α and TP53.
In conclusion, massive apoptotic death of PBMC occurs during the active stage
of SLE. The molecular pathway of SLE PBMC apoptosis is mediated at least via the
TNF/TNFR signaling pathway, which is confirmed by functional test of TNF-α in SLE
patients’ plasma. The case-control study revealed associations between CTLA4 and
PTPN22 and SLE susceptibility, while TNF-α and TP53 did not show any association