METHODS: A total of 19 SLE patients and 16 HCs were enrolled in this study. Flow cytometry was used to detect the number of peripheral T lymphocyte subsets, and 16 s rRNA was used to detect the relative abundance of gut microbiota. Analyzed the correlation between gut microbiota with SLEDAI, ESR, ds-DNA and complement. SPSS26.0 software was used to analyze the experimental data. Mann-Whitney U test was applied to compare T lymphocyte subsets. Spearman analysis was used for calculating correlation.
RESULTS: Compared with HCs, the proportions of Tregs (P = 0.001), Tfh cells (P = 0.018) and Naïve CD4 + T cells (P = 0.004) significantly decreased in SLE patients, and proportions of Th17 cells (P = 0.020) and γδT cells (P = 0.018) increased in SLE. The diversity of SLE patients were significantly decreased. Addition, there were 11 species of flora were discovered to be distinctly different in SLE group (P < 0.05). In the correlation analysis of SLE, Tregs were positively correlated with Ruminococcus2 (P = 0.042), Th17 cells were positively correlated with Megamonas (P = 0.009), γδT cells were positively correlated with Megamonas (P = 0.003) and Streptococcus (P = 0.004), Tfh cells were positively correlated with Bacteroides (P = 0.040), and Th1 cells were negatively correlated with Bifidobacterium (P = 0.005). As for clinical indicators, the level of Tregs was negatively correlated with ESR (P = 0.031), but not with C3 and C4, and the remaining cells were not significantly correlated with ESR, C3 and C4.
CONCLUSIONS: Gut microbiota and T lymphocyte subsets of SLE changed and related to each other, which may break the immune balance and affect the occurrence and development of SLE. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the changes of gut microbiota and provide new ideas for the treatment of SLE.
方法:本研究共纳入19例SLE患者和16例HCs。流式细胞术检测外周血T淋巴细胞亚群数量,并使用16srRNA检测肠道微生物群的相对丰度。分析了肠道菌群与SLEDAI的相关性,ESR,ds-DNA和补体。采用SPSS26.0软件对实验数据进行分析。应用Mann-WhitneyU检验比较T淋巴细胞亚群。采用Spearman分析计算相关性。
结果:与HC相比,Tregs的比例(P=0.001),SLE患者的Tfh细胞(P=0.018)和初始CD4+T细胞(P=0.004)显着降低,SLE中Th17细胞(P=0.020)和γδT细胞(P=0.018)的比例增加。SLE患者的多样性显著降低。加法,SLE组发现11种菌群存在明显差异(P<0.05)。在SLE的相关性分析中,Tregs与Ruminococus2呈正相关(P=0.042),Th17细胞与Megamonas呈正相关(P=0.009)。γδT细胞与巨单胞菌(P=0.003)和链球菌(P=0.004)呈正相关,Tfh细胞与拟杆菌呈正相关(P=0.040),Th1细胞与双歧杆菌呈负相关(P=0.005)。至于临床指标,Tregs水平与ESR呈负相关(P=0.031),但与C3和C4无关,其余细胞与ESR无显著相关性,C3和C4。
结论:SLE的肠道菌群和T淋巴细胞亚群发生了变化,并且相互关联,从而打破免疫平衡,影响SLE的发生发展。因此,有必要关注肠道菌群的变化,为SLE的治疗提供新思路。