Down regulatory effect of peripheral IL-10+Tim-3+T cells in recurrent spontaneous abortion patients

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the diagnosis value of T cell immunoglobin and mucin-3 (Tim-3) and programmed death-1 (PD-1) combined with cytokines on peripheral CD3+T cells in the patients of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect the proportion of Tim-3+PD-1+, Tim-3-PD-1-, Tim-3-PD-1+ and Tim-3+PD-1- in CD3 T cells, and the expression of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-10 produced by the four parts of T cells, from 17 normal pregnant women and 19 RSA patients. Results Compared with normal pregnant women group (1.24%±0.77%), the proportion of Tim-3+PD-1+T cells in RSA group were lower significantly (0.57%±0.26%)(P<0.001). The proportions of IL-10 in four parts of T cells in RSA group were 33.55%±16.27%, 0.92%±0.88%, 1.61%±1.35% and 16.36%±13.98%. The proportions of IL-10 in four parts of T cells in normal pregnant group were 45.92%±17.89%, 0.49%±0.27%, 0.92%±0.68% and 33.43%±16.98%. The proportion of IL-10 produced by Tim-3+PD-1+ T cells in two groups was higher than that in other three parts (P<0.05); and the proportions of IL-10 produced by Tim-3+PD-1+ and Tim-3+PD-1-T cells in RSA group (33.55%±16.27%, 16.36%±13.98%) were lower than those in normal pregnant group (45.92%±17.89%, 33.43%±16.98%) (P<0.05, P<0.01), while the expression of IFN-γ in four parts of two groups had no difference. Conclusion IL-10+Tim-3+T cells are significantly lower in RSA, which may be a new observation index for judging the RSA. Key words: Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA); Tim-3+PD-1+T cells; IL-10+Tim-3+ T cells