Experimental immunology
CD4+CD25high regulatory T cells and CD4+CD69+ T cells in peripheral blood of patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus

Lupus erythematosus (LE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by functional alterations of T and B lymphocyte subsets. The cutaneous forms of lupus erythematosus comprise subacute cutaneous LE (SCLE) and discoid LE (DLE). Recent studies have shown that the activation process of lymphocytes in patients with systemic disease manifestations is disturbed. The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of CD4+CD25high regulatory T cells and CD4+CD69+ cells in peripheral blood of patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). Using flow cytometry to determine cell populations, we characterized CD4+CD25high cells and CD4+CD69+ cells in patients with CLE (DLE - 5 patients, SCLE - 5 patients), SLE (n = 5), and healthy controls (n = 15). We compared CD4+CD25high cells and CD4+CD69+ cells from the patients with CLE versus SLE and healthy controls. CD4+CD25high cells was significantly increased in patients with CLE when compared to the patients with SLE (p < 0.05 ). While the percentage of CD4+CD25high cells in CLE patients was similar to that in the control subjects. CD4+CD69+ cells was decreased in the patients with CLE and control subjects when compared to the patients with SLE (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that patients with systemic disease manifestations had lower levels of circulating CD4+CD25high cells and higher levels of CD4+CD69+ cells than patients with cutaneous forms of lupus erythematosus.