Imbalance between Subpopulations of Regulatory T Cells in Patients with Acute Exacerbation of COPD.

Imbalance between Subpopulations of Regulatory T Cells in Patients with Acute Exacerbation of COPD. COPD. 2017 Nov 22;:1-8 Authors: Yang X, Huo B, Zhong X, Su W, Liu W, Li Y, He Z, Bai J Abstract Human regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been reported to be not significantly different in the peripheral blood of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy controls. Recent research has identified some new markers for Tregs and indicated that Tregs are composed of distinct subpopulations. The aim of the study was to describe the changing patterns of circulating Treg subpopulations in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) and healthy controls, and to explore their potential roles in AECOPD pathogenesis. Blood samples were obtained from 30 never-smokers with normal lung function and 30 patients with COPD before and after they had an exacerbation. The proportions of Treg subpopulations were evaluated using flow cytometry. In the peripheral blood, decreased proportions of CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(low) Tregs, CD4(+)CD25(+)CD45RA(+) Tregs, and CD4(+)CD25(+)CD62L(+) Tregs and an increased proportion of CD4(+)CD25(+)CD45RO(+) Tregs were found in patients with stable COPD compared with non-smokers with normal lung function. The patients showed further changes in Treg subpopulations when they had an AECOPD, with an overall decrease in a suppressive subset, indicating that the immune negative regulatory population of T...
Source: COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - Category: Respiratory Medicine Tags: COPD Source Type: research