Trail/trail receptor expression on T-cell subtypes in patients with myasthenia gravis

Abstract

Anti- acetylcholine receptor (Anti-AChR) is the most commonly seen and well known antibody among Myasthenia Gravis (MG) related antibodies and it is produced by B lymphocytes; however,,T-lymphocytes also contribute to the development of the autoimmune response. Apoptosis, programmed cell death, regulates the activities of central and peripheral T cells during immune response. In this regard, the goal of this study was to determine T cell related TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor and ligand composition; and TRAIL’s role in the development and progression of the disease in MG patients. Thus, we aimed to understand how TRAIL and its receptors affect T cell function in the pathophysiological mechanism of MG. This study included a total of 25 patients (13 females and 12 males), who were admitted to the department of neurology and diagnosed with MG according to clinical, electrophysiological and laboratory data, and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. The expression profile of TRAIL and its receptors on CD3+ CD4+ and CD3+ CD8+ T lymphocytes were investigated with flow cytometry in peripheral blood samples. Furthermore, the relationship between TRAIL/TRAIL receptor expression and clinical findings and , treatment protocol of the patients were analyzed with Spearman’s Rho. It was detected that TRAIL/TRAIL receptor expression on both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were significantly higher in MG patients compared to control group. In MG patients, while death receptor-4 (DR4) and decoy receptors (DcR), DcR1 and DcR2, were correlated with CD8+ T cells, they were not correlated with CD4+ T cells. In this study, which evaluated TRAIL/TRAIL receptor expression on T cell subtypes in MG patients, we showed that TNF and TRAIL/TRAIL receptor system play a significant role in MG and concluded that these data will contribute to the development of new gene therapies.

Keywords

• Myasthenia Gravis
• thymus
• TRAIL
• apoptosis
• CD4+
• CD8+

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