engleski

The expression of T-cell FOXP3 and T-bet is upregulated in severe, but not euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis

Hashimoto's thyroidits (HT) is an organ- specific autoimmune disorder characterized by progressive thyroid failure. Th1 and Treg subset of CD4+ cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis ; however less is known about their respective roles across the spectrum of HT clinical presentations. To shed more light on CD4+ subsets role in HT, we investigated the mRNA expression levels of several Th1/Treg- associated transcription factors (T-bet/ETS1, HIF1α/BLIMP1/FOXP3) in peripheral blood T-cells of 10 hypothyroid, untreated HT patients, 10 hypothyroid patients undergoing hormone replacement therapy, 12 euthyroid HT subjects and 11 healthy controls by the qRT-PCR. Compared to euthyroid HT patients and controls, both hypothyroid (2.34-fold difference vs controls, P<0.01) and thyroxine-supplemented patients (2.5-fold, P<0.001), showed an increased FOXP3 mRNA expression in T cells. Similarly, mRNA expression levels of T-bet were up-regulated in severely affected, but not in euthyroid HT subjects (2.37-fold and 3.2-fold, hypothyroid and thyroxine-supplemented HT patients vs controls, respectively, P<0.01). By contrast, no differences in mRNA expression levels of ETS1, BLIMP1 and HIF1α were observed across the study groups. In summary, severe, but not euthyroid HT was associated with robust upregulation of T-bet and FOXP3 mRNA in peripheral T cells, independent of the thyroid hormone status, but proportional to disease activity.

Hashimoto disease ; T-lymphocytes ; T-bet ; FOXP3 ; Thyroid function

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