Relationship between expressions of Fas-FasL and apoptosis of peripheral blood CD8~+T lymphocytes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

To investigate the relationship between expression of Fas-FasL and apoptosis of peripheral blood CD8+CD28-and CD8+CD28+T lymphocytes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE),the rates of Fas-FasL expression and apoptosis of CD8+CD28-and CD8+CD28+ T cells were measured by three antibodies labeling flow cytometry(FCM) analysis in 22 active cases,18 inactive cases of SLE and 20 controls.The results showed that:(1)Compared to controls and inactive SLE,apoptosis rates of CD8+ T cells was significantly higher in active SLE group(P0.05),and the expression of Fas in CD8+CD28-T cells and FasL in CD8+CD28+T cells were higher in active SLE group(P0.05).The expression rate of Fas of CD8+CD28+ T cells in SLE patients was featured by the fact that active SLE group inactive SLE groupcontrol group,and there was a significant difference in statistics in these 3 groups(P0.05).(2) The activity of SLE was positively correlated with the apoptosis rate of CD8+T cells,but there was no correlation with expression of Fas、FasL in CD8+CD28-and CD8+CD28+ T cells.(3) The expression of Fas、FasL were correlated with apoptosis,and expression of Fas was significant correlated with expression of FasL in CD8+CD28+ T cells.The expression of Fas was not significantly correlated with expression of FasL in CD8+CD28-Tcells.It is concluded that the apoptotic rate of the peripheral blood CD8+T cells is abnormally increased and the activity of SLE was positively correlated with the apoptotic rate of CD8+T cells.The difference of expression in Fas and FasL between active and inactive cases of SLE may induce the disability of immune tolerance.