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Abnormal surface markers expression on bone marrow CD34+ cells and correlation with disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

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Abstract

Defects of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have been suggested to contribute to the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this study was to investigate the phenotypic characteristics of bone marrow (BM) CD34+ cells in patients with SLE and its relationship with SLE disease activity. Ten SLE patients and 10 healthy subjects were recruited and their BM CD34+ cells were analyzed by flow cytometric analysis with CD45/SSC gating for the expression of CD90, CD95, CD117, CD123, CD164, CD166, FAS-L, and HLA-DR. The percentage of BM CD34+ cells was significantly decreased in active SLE patients (1.48 ± 0.41%, n = 7) compared to the healthy controls (2.31 ± 0.75%, n = 10, p < 0.01), but no significant difference was found between the inactive patients (2.04 ± 0.44%, n = 3) and the controls. The expression of CD95, CD123, and CD166 on BM CD34+ cells were significantly increased in SLE patients (48.31 ± 10.59%, 44.9 ± 21.5%, 30.9 ± 19.54%, respectively, n = 10) when compared with the control subjects (24.33 ± 11.1%, 19.5 ± 4.4%, 10.7 ± 5.5%, respectively, n = 10, p < 0.05). The increased CD123 expression was negatively correlated with the number of peripheral white blood cells (r = −0.700, p < 0.05, n = 10). The percentage of CD166 expression was found significantly correlated with the index of SLE disease activity (r = 0.472, p < 0.05, n = 10) and 24 h proteinuria (r = 0.558, p < 0.05, n = 10), but negatively correlated with serum C3 level (r = −0.712, p < 0.01, n = 10). Our study found that the surface marker expression of CD95, CD123, and CD166 on BM CD34+ cells were significantly increased in patients. This supports the hypothesis that there are abnormalities of the HSC in SLE. Since CD166 and CD123 correlated with the overall lupus activity, their role as a biomarker of inflammatory disease activity also requires further study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Ian Bruce, ARC Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester, UK and Dr. Neil Snowden, Department of Rheumatology, North Manchester General Hospital, UK for their review of this manuscript.

The study was supported by grants from the Chinese Education Ministry (20050315001), the Jiangsu Province Natural Science (BK2006007, BK2004009) and the Jiangsu Province 135 Talent Foundation (RC2002003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, 321# Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Ling-yun Sun, Kang-xin Zhou, Xue-bing Feng, Hua-Yong Zhang & Xue-qin Ding

  2. Division of Rheumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Ou Jin & Chak-sing Lau

  3. Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Li-wei Lu

  4. Immunology Laboratory, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Ya-yi Hou

  5. Department of Pathophysiology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, People’s Republic of China

    Le-ming Fan

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  1. Ling-yun Sun
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Correspondence to Ling-yun Sun.

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Sun, Ly., Zhou, Kx., Feng, Xb. et al. Abnormal surface markers expression on bone marrow CD34+ cells and correlation with disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Rheumatol 26, 2073–2079 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-007-0621-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-007-0621-2

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