Circulating TFH Subset Distribution Is Strongly Affected in Lupus Patients with an Active Disease.docVIP

Circulating TFH Subset Distribution Is Strongly Affected in Lupus Patients with an Active Disease Carole Le Coz, Aurélie Joublin, Jean-Louis Pasquali, Anne-Sophie Korganow, Hélène Dumortier, Fanny Monneaux * CNRS, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Immunopathologie et Chimie Thérapeutique/Laboratory of excellence MEDALIS, Strasbourg, France Abstract Follicular helper T cells (TFH) represent a distinct subset of CD4 T cells specialized in providing help to B + lymphocytes, which may play a central role in autoimmune diseases having a major B cell component such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Recently, TFH subsets that share common phenotypic and functional characteristics with TFH cells from germinal centers, have been described in the peripheral blood from healthy individuals. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of such populations in lupus patients. Circulating TFH cell subsets were defined by multicolor flow cytometry as TFH17 (CXCR3 CCR6 ), TFH1 (CXCR3 CCR6 ) or TFH2 (CXCR3 CCR6 ) cells - + + - - - among CXCR5 T cells in the peripheral blood of 23 SLE patients and 23 sex and age-matched + CD45RA CD4 - + healthy controls. IL-21 receptor expression by B cells was analyzed by flow cytometry and the serum levels of IL-21 and Igs were determined by ELISA tests. We found that the TFH2 cell subset frequency is strongly and significantly increased in lupus patients with an active disease (SLEDAI score8), while the TFH1 cell subset percentage is greatly decreased. The TFH2 and TFH1 cell subset frequency alteration is associated with the presence of high Ig levels and autoantibodies in patient’s sera. Moreover, the TFH2 cell subset enhancement correlates with an increased frequency - -