Authors: Zhanshan Cha Yan Zang Huijun Guo James R Rechlic Lindsay M Olasnova Haihui Gu Xiaohua Tu Haihan Song Baohua Qian
Publish Date: 2013/06/27
Volume: 34, Issue: 6, Pages: 3579-3585
Abstract
Accumulating evidences indicate that immune dysregulation plays a key role in both lymphomagenesis and patient outcome of chronic lymphocytic leukemia CLL Peripheral blood CD4+ CXCR5+ T cells known as circulating follicular helper T cells Tfh can induce B cell activation and production of specific antibody responses The aim of the study was to investigate changes of circulating Tfh in CLL Tfh and it subtypes were tested by measuring CD4 CXCR5 CXCR3 and CCR6 in 72 CLL cases and 86 healthy controls using flow cytometry Data showed that the percentage of Tfh in the peripheral CD4+ T cells was significantly increased in CLL 251 than in controls 84 p 0001 Further analysis revealed that the upregulation of Tfh was contributed by Tfhth2 subtype and Tfhth17 subtype Investigating staging of the cases demonstrated that the prevalence of Tfh was significantly elevated in cases with Binet stage C 373 than those with stage A 201 or stage B 239 In addition we analyzed Tfh in patients with immunoglobulin variable heavy chain IGHV gene mutational status Results presented that Tfhth17 subtype had clearly higher frequency in patients with IGHV mutation compared to the unmutated cases p = 0035 This study suggested the involvement of Tfh in the pathogenesis and progression of CLL and provided a potential target for treating this disease
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