Authors: Maryam Rastin Mohammad Reza Hatef Nafisseh Tabasi Mahmoud Mahmoudi
Publish Date: 2011/08/12
Volume: 31, Issue: 3, Pages: 417-424
Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosus SLE is a disease with unknown etiology The pathologic role of sex hormones and apoptosis in SLE has often been discussed We studied the effects of estradiol in the pathway of induced apoptosis in Iranian SLE patients T lymphocytes from 35 SLE patients and 20 agematched controls were isolated and cultured in the presence of 10−8 M 17β estradiol The expression levels of Fas Fas ligand FasL Bcl2 caspase8 and caspase9 mRNAs were determined semiquantitatively in comparison to the expression level of beta actin RNA Estradiol exposure did not have any significant effects on the expression levels of Fas Bcl2 and caspase9 in SLE patients and controls However the expression levels of FasL and caspase8 were significantly increased in SLE patients but not in controls This suggests the probable involvement of extrinsic apoptosis pathway in estradiolinduced apoptosis in SLE
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