ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Panminerva Medica 1999 December;41(4):315-7

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

T-cell activity in HLA-associated autoimmune diseases

Puglisi F., Capuano P., Simone M., Verzillo F., Laurentaci C.

From the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Chair of General Surgery I University of Bari, Italy

Background. The exis­tence of T-help­er-1 (Th1) and T-help­er-2 (Th2) sub­sets has ­been impli­cat­ed in the reg­u­la­tion of sev­er­al ­immune respons­es, and alter­a­tions in the Th1/Th2 bal­ance ­have ­been ­involved in auto­im­mu­nity. The ­present ­study inves­ti­gates the rel­a­tive influ­ence of Th1 and Th2 pat­terns in auto­im­mune respons­es in ­patients ­with HLA-asso­ciat­ed auto­im­mune dis­eas­es.
Methods. This ­study con­cerns 849 ­patients of ­both sex­es, suf­fer­ing ­from sev­er­al auto­im­mune dis­eas­es. Tissue typ­ing for HLA anti­gens of Class I (A, B, C) and Class II (DR, DQ) was car­ried out in all ­patients by con­ven­tion­al ser­o­log­ic meth­ods, com­par­ing ­results ­with fre­quen­cies detect­ed in a nor­mal pop­u­la­tion. Many immu­no­log­i­cal ­tests ­were ­also ­done. In par­tic­u­lar, lym­pho­cyte sub­sets (CD4+, CD8+, CD3-HLA-DR+, NK ­cells, sIg+B ­cells) ­were detect­ed ­with mono­clo­nal anti­bod­ies by a flu­o­res­cent cytom­e­ter. The chang­es in fre­quen­cies of T ­cell sub­sets ­were ­used to cal­cu­late the pos­sible inci­dence of two effec­tor phe­no­types (TE-1; TE-2).
Results. The ­results of the immu­nog­e­net­ic anal­y­sis con­firmed the sig­nif­i­cant HLA-asso­ci­a­tions in sev­er­al dis­eas­es. The essen­tial T -cell chang­es ­were ­also ­exposed, ­thus defin­ing the inci­dence of T-­cell phe­no­types (TE-1=56.3%; TE-2=34.8%). This find­ing sug­gest­ed a ­major ­impact of ­cell-medi­at­ed immu­nity, as com­pared ­with ­that of anti­body-medi­at­ed immu­nity.
Conclusions. The anom­a­lies of Th1/Th2 bal­ance can ­impact auto­im­mune dis­ease, and in ­many cas­es a Th2 ­response can pre­vent Th1-medi­at­ed auto­im­mu­nity, ­which is the ­most evi­dent phe­nom­e­non in sev­er­al HLA-asso­ciat­ed dis­eas­es.