Frequency of CD4~+CD25~+CD127~(low/-)T Cells in the Peripheral Blood of Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients

Objective To detect the expression of CD4+CD25+CD127low/-T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and analyse its correlation with and CD4+CD25+FOXP3+T cells. Methods Twenty-one AS patients, 20 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and 24 healthy controls were enrolled in this study, CD4+CD25+CD127low/-, CD4+CD25high, and CD4+CD25+FOXP3+T cells of their peripheral blood were analyzed by 3-color flow cytometry. Levels of ESR, CRP, immunoglobulin and complement, HLA-B27 were also measured. Results In comparison to healthy controls, percents of CD4 +CD25+CD127low/-T cells and CD4+CD25+FOXP3+T cells in the peripheral blood of AS patients were decreased (P 0.05 in each case), and the percent of CD4+CD25high T cells was increased (P 0.05); CD4+CD25+CD127low/-T cells were positively correlated with CD4+CD25+FOXP3+T cells (r = 0.589, P =0.021), but not with the levels of BASDAI、 CRP, ESR and complements and HLA-B27 (P 0.05 in each case). Percents of CD4+CD25+CD127low/-T cells, CD4+CD25+FOXP3+T cells and CD4+CD25highT cells in the peripheral blood of AS patients showed no significant difference with that of RA patients ( P 0.05). Conclusion The percent of CD4 +CD25 +CD127low/-T cells is decreased in the peripheral blood of AS patients and positively correlates with CD4 +CD25 +FOXP3 +T cells. CD127 may be a surrogate marker of FOXP3 in studying regulatory T cells.