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Expression of human tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the mRNA and serum expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and healthy controls. Sixty-two SLE patients and 15 healthy controls were recruited in the study. TWEAK messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 33 of 62 patients was detected by relative quantification RT-PCR. TWEAK concentrations in the sera of all 62 patients were measured by ELISA. TWEAK mRNA expressions in PBMCs were decreased in SLE patients compared with healthy controls. Lower TWEAK mRNA expression was also found in the active SLE patients when compared to inactive ones. However, there was no significant difference between patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and those without. The level of serum TWEAK (sTWEAK) in SLE patients was increased when compared to healthy controls. In addition, the sTWEAK level was higher in SLE patients with vasculitis than those without vasculitis, and so was in comparison between patients with and without headache. Nevertheless, no significant differences were found between active SLE patients and inactive patients, or between LN patients and non-LN SLE patients. In this study, patients with SLE express low levels of TWEAK mRNA but high levels of sTWEAK. Additionally, sTWEAK level was associated with several clinical manifestations of SLE, indicating that TWEAK may play a complex role in SLE.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (30830089) and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20070366002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China

    Chao Wang, Li-Li Chen, Hai-Feng Pan, Rui-Xue Leng, Wei-Zi Qin & Dong-Qing Ye

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  1. Chao Wang
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  2. Li-Li Chen
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  3. Hai-Feng Pan
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  4. Rui-Xue Leng
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  5. Wei-Zi Qin
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  6. Dong-Qing Ye
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dong-Qing Ye.

Additional information

C. Wang and L. Chen authors contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, C., Chen, LL., Pan, HF. et al. Expression of human tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Rheumatol 31, 335–339 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-011-1865-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-011-1865-4

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