Expression of PD-1 on peripheral blood T lymphocyes in patients with coronary heart disease

Objective To investigate the expression of programmed death-1(PD-1) on peripheral blood T cells(PBTCs) in patients with coronary heart disease and the role of this expression in genesis and development of atherosclerosis.Methods 27 patients with stable angina(SA),28 with acute coronary syndrome(ACS),and 30 control subjects with angiographically confirmed noncoronary heart disease were included in this study.The expressions of PD-1 mRNA and protein in PBTCs were detected by direct immunofluorescence,flow cytometry,and half-quantitative RT-PCR,respectively.Results The expression level of PD-1 was markedly lower in the group with SA or ACS than in the control group(P0.01 for both comparisons),but did not differ significantly between SA and ACS(P0.05).Conclusions The expression of PD-1 on peripheral blood T cells in patients with coronary heart disease is significantly down-regulated,which may play a role in the pathogenesis and development of atherosclerosis.