Expression of FoxP3 in different forms of leprosy and reactions

Chalita Patricia Lima,Elisa Massariolli Da Costa ,Lucas F Sampaio

doi:10.5935/1676-2444.20190040

Chalita Patricia Lima, Elisa Massariolli Da Costa + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5935/1676-2444.20190040

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Although regulatory T cells (Treg) are important in the immune regulation of various pathological processes, the role of these cells in the immunology of leprosy still needs to be better evaluated. The objective of this work is to quantify the FoxP3, the main marker of Treg cells, in the different forms of leprosy, with and without leprosy reaction. Expression of Treg cells was investigated using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to measure the FoxP3 marker in unstimulated plasma as well as in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) supernatant after incubation with M. leprae sonicated antigen (MLSA) for 72 hours. After stimulation with MLSA, a strong increase in FoxP3 expression was observed in multibacillary leprosy (MB), type 1 leprosy reaction (T1R) and type 2 leprosy reaction (T2R) patients. However, the group that presented the highest expression of FoxP3 was T1R, about six times more than that of healthy individuals and twice as many as T2R patients. Thus, this study suggests that Treg plays an important role in the etiopathogenesis of leprosy reactions, regulating the exacerbated acute inflammatory process, avoiding severe and incapacitating lesions. This study also demonstrates that ELISA, a simple and affordable technology, can be used in routine measurement of the FoxP3 marker.

Highlights

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subset of cells characterized by the nuclear transcription factor P3(1, 2)
The expression of the FoxP3 marker was investigated using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), firstly in the plasma without stimulation and, subsequently, in the supernatant of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with M. leprae cell sonicate (MLCS) antigen
After stimulation with the MLCS antigen, PBMCs of all groups demonstrated a statistically significant increase in FoxP3 expression when compared to healthy individuals (Figure)

Summary

Introduction

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subset of cells characterized by the nuclear transcription factor P3 (forkhead box P3 or FoxP3)(1, 2). Some studies have shown an increase in the number of Treg cells in leprosy paucibacillary (PB) form[3,4], whereas other researchers have observed high levels of Treg in the multibacillary (MB) forms[5, 6]. In relation to studies with leprosy reactions, researchers observed a statistically significant increase in FoxP3 expression in patients with type 1 leprosy reaction (T1R) when compared to type 2 leprosy reaction (T2R)(7, 8). Other researchers found a greater increase in FoxP3 expression in T2R(3). In this study we investigated the frequency of FoxP3, a marker of Treg cells, in different forms of leprosy and leprosy reactions. We investigated the possibility of using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique, a simple, inexpensive and quite accessible assay in the measurement of FoxP3 marker

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