Expression of 4-1BB on T Lymphocytes and Effect on TH1/TH2 Cytokines from Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

【Objective】To investigate the expression of costimulatory molecule 4-1BB on T cells of patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA) and the relationship with the levels of serum IFN-γ、IL-4.【Methods】The expressions of 4-1BB on T lymphocyte from 30 RA patients and 20 healthy controls were detected by flow cytometry.The levels of serum IFN-γ and IL-4 in RA patients and controls were detected by ELISA.【Results】The expression of 4-1BB on CD_4~+T and CD_8~+T lymphocytes from RA patients was significantly higher than that of normal control(18.56±4.08,10.33±2.13 vs 1.24±0.12,0.87±0.09,P0.01).There were more expression of 4-1BB on CD_4~+T and CD_8~+T lymphocytes stimulated with anti-CD3 antibody from RA patients(33.21±4.29 and 21.35±8.12,P0.01).In addition,the ratio of CD_4~+T/CD_8~+T in RA patients was higher than that of normal control and positively correlated with 4-1BB~+CD_4~+T cell.The levels of serum IFN-γ and IL-4 in RA patient were obviously higher than that of control(P0.01,P0.05).The expression of 4-1BB on CD_4~+T in RA patients was positively correlated with the levels of serum IFN-γ(r=0.597,P0.05).(【Conclusion】)The costimulatory molecule 4-1BB is abnormally expressed in T lymphocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.The abnormal expression of 4-1BB on T lymphocytes may play an important role in the development of RA.The expression of 4-1BB on CD_4~+T cell may take part in immune inflammation of RA by acting on CD_4~+T cell and increasing TH1 cytokines.