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Association of Graves’ Disease and Prevalence of Circulating IFN-γ-producing CD28− T Cells

Journal of Clinical Immunology volume 28, Article number: 464 (2008) Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subsets lacking surface CD28 have been suggested to predispose patients to immune-mediated disorders.

Materials and Methods

To determine the role of CD28− T-cell subset in Graves’ disease (GD), we characterized peripheral blood CD4+CD28− and CD8+CD28− T cell from early onset GD patients.

Results and Discussion

GD patients had significantly higher percentages of CD4+CD28− and CD8+CD28− T cells than did healthy donors. Both CD28− T cells expressed mostly CD45RO, suggesting that they are activated and/or are memory T cells. GD patient-derived CD4+CD28− and CD8+CD28− T cells produced more intracellular IFN-γ than their counterparts from healthy donors. Furthermore, CD4+CD28− and CD8+CD28− T cells from GD patients with Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) secreted higher level of intracellular IFN-γ than those CD28− T cells from GD patients without GO. Retrospective analysis showed that the increased levels of CD4+CD28− T cells and their IFN-γ-producing subgroups were positively correlated to the serum anti-thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) autoantibodies (TRAb). Our observations suggest that increased IFN-γ-producing CD28− T cells in GD patients may play an important role in the pathogenesis of GD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2001 CB51003) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30471690). We thank Prof. Andrej and Dr. Yi Zhang for critical reading of the manuscript. Ge-Hua Yu is thanked for excellent technical assistance. We also thank Dr. Shi and Dr. Chen for their help with the collection of peripheral blood samples.

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Affiliations

  1. Medical Biotechnology Institute, Soochow University, 48 Renmin Road, Suzhou, 215007, China

    Zhiping Sun, Weixue Zhong, Bimin Shi, Yibei Zhu, Lei Chen, Guangbo Zhang & Xueguang Zhang

  2. Clinical Immunology Key Laboratory of Jiangsu Province, Soochow University, 48 Renmin Road, Suzhou, 215007, China

    Weixue Zhong, Yibei Zhu, Guangbo Zhang & Xueguang Zhang

  3. Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210011, China

    Zhiping Sun & Xiang Lu

Authors
  1. Zhiping Sun
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  2. Weixue Zhong
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  3. Xiang Lu
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Correspondence to Xueguang Zhang.

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Zhiping Sun and Weixue Zhong contributed equally to this paper.

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Sun, Z., Zhong, W., Lu, X. et al. Association of Graves’ Disease and Prevalence of Circulating IFN-γ-producing CD28− T Cells. J Clin Immunol 28, 464 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-008-9213-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-008-9213-4

Keywords

  • Graves’ disease
  • CD4+CD28− T cell
  • CD8+CD28− T cell
  • interferon (IFN)-γ
  • peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)