Expression patterns of signaling lymphocytic activation molecule family members in peripheral blood mononuclear cell subsets in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Maria P Karampetsou,Katalin Kis-Toth,George C Tsokos,Vasileios C Kyttaris,Denis Comte,Frederic Rieux-Laucat

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186073

Abstract

Genome-wide linkage analysis studies (GWAS) studies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) identified the 1q23 region on human chromosome 1, containing the Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family (SLAMF) cluster of genes, as a lupus susceptibility locus. The SLAMF molecules (SLAMF1-7) are immunoregulatory receptors expressed predominantly on hematopoietic cells. Activation of cells of the adaptive immune system is aberrant in SLE and dysregulated expression of certain SLAMF molecules has been reported. We examined the expression of SLAMF1-7 on peripheral blood T cells, B cells, monocytes, and their respective differentiated subsets, in patients with SLE and healthy controls in a systematic manner. SLAMF1 levels were increased on both T cell and B cells and their differentiated subpopulations in patients with SLE. SLAMF2 was increased on SLE CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. The frequency of SLAMF4+ and SLAMF7+ central memory and effector memory CD8+ T cells was reduced in SLE patients. Naïve CD4+ and CD8+ SLE T cells showed a slight increase in SLAMF3 levels. No differences were seen in the expression of SLAMF5 and SLAMF6 among SLE patients and healthy controls. Overall, the expression of various SLAMF receptors is dysregulated in SLE and may contribute to the immunopathogenesis of the disease.

Highlights

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by a loss of tolerance to self antigens, the production of autoantibodies and inflammation of multiple organs [1,2,3]
We examined the expression of Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family (SLAMF) molecules on T cells, B cells and monocytes and further assessed SLAMF expression in a more detailed manner on the surface of differentiated CD4+T cells, CD8+ T cells and B cells subsets, in an attempt to identify new subpopulations that may contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE
We examined the expression of SLAMF members (SLAMF1-7) on the surface of Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from SLE patients and age, sex, ethnicity- matched healthy controls

Summary

Introduction

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by a loss of tolerance to self antigens, the production of autoantibodies and inflammation of multiple organs [1,2,3]. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) in human SLE have identified the 1q23 region on chromosome 1, which contains the SLAMF (Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family) cluster of genes, as a susceptibility locus for lupus [4, 5]. SLAMF expression in PBMC from patients with SLE

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Conclusion