[Preliminary study on apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-related genes in peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus].

This study was conducted to explore the clinical implication of the relationship between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) apoptosis and apoptosis-related gene expression. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labelling technique and flow cytometry were used to detect the apoptotic cell; immunohistochemistry ABC was used to detect the expressions of bcl-2 and Fas in 29 cases of SLE. The results showed that the rate of apoptosis of PBL in SLE patients was significantly higher than that in normal control (P < 0.001), and that in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (P < 0.001). After 48 hour's culture, the apoptotic rate further increased in SLE patients (33.44%). There was a significant correlation between the SLE activity and the rate of apoptosis in vitro (r = 0.86, P < 0.001). The rate of apoptosis of PBL in SLE-nephritis patients was higher than that in non-SLE-nephritis patients (P < 0.01). Before and after the culture, the expressions of bcl-2 and Fas in PBL of patients with SLE were higher than those in normal control (P < 0.01, P < 0.001). So the authors suggest that increased rate of apoptosis may be used as an index for evaluating the severity of SLE cases.