The Role of Circulating CD4~+CD28~-T Cell in the Development of Graves' Disease

Objective To examine the prevalence and clinical relevance of CD4 +CD28-T cells in a cohort of Graves' disease(GD) patients,to characterize functional properties of these abnormal T cells.Methods The size,phenotype and intracytoplasmic cytokine expression of the peripheral blood CD4 +CD28-compartment was determined in 61 cases of GD patients by immunophenotyping and flow cytometry analysis,and 30 age-matched healthy donors were taken as the controls.Results Circulating CD4 +CD28-T cells were found to be more enriched in patients with GD than in the controls.Levels of CD4 +CD28-T cells correlated with disease manifestation and thyroid autoantibody TRAb.Alternative costimulatory molecule ICOS were up-regulatedly expressed on the surface of CD4 +CD28-T cells.They produced IFN-γ and shared Th1-like functional properties.Conclusion Circulating CD4 +CD28-T cells may play an important role in pathogenesis and development of GD.