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. 2020 Summer;15(3):225-231.
doi: 10.30699/ijp.2020.110994.2187. Epub 2020 Apr 21.

Expression Pattern of Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Variants and Bcl-2 in Peripheral Lymphocytes of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients

Armin Attar  1 , Mohsen Khosravi Maharlooei  2 , Mohammad Ali Nazarinia  3 , Ahmad Hosseini  4 , Zohre Bajalli  2 , Yalda Sadat Moeini  5 , Ahmad Monabati  6   7 , Fatemeh Amirmoezi  6 , Mansooreh Jaberipour  4 , Mojtaba Habibagahi  8
Affiliations

Expression Pattern of Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Variants and Bcl-2 in Peripheral Lymphocytes of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients

Armin Attar et al. Iran J Pathol. 2020 Summer.

Abstract

Background & objective: It is not clear whether activated lymphocytes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more proliferative or less apoptotic. We aimed to delineate potential differences between B and T cells of SLE patients compared to healthy controls regarding the telomerase activity and apoptosis status.

Methods: In this cross-sectional case control study, Blood samples were taken from 10 SLE patients and 10 healthy controls. B and T cells were separated using magnetic cell sorting system. Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay and real-time PCR were used to determine the telomerase activity and the expression of alternatively spliced variants.

Results: Four patients under treatment showed significant telomerase activity in their T cells. Four of the newly diagnosed patients showed telomerase activity in their B cells (20% of all patients and 40% of new onset patients). There was no specific pattern of human telomerase reverse transcriptase variant expression within the patients' lymphocytes. A significantly reduced expression of Bcl-2 was detected in B cells (P=0.018) and a trend toward lower Bcl-2 expression in T cells was seen in SLE patients compared to healthy controls.

Conclusion: Although not definitive, our results may suggest that B cells may have more active roles during the earlier phases of the disease attack, while T cells take over when the disease reaches its chronic stages.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Lymphocyte; Systemic Lupus Erythematosus; Telomerase.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Position of the primers on the hTERT mRNA and deletion sites of different variants of hTERT
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
FACS assessment of purity of B cells and T cells isolated with MACS. Mean purity of the isolated T cells is 98.4±0.8%, while 72.6±0.6% of them are CD4+ cells and 20.6±0.5% are CD8+ cells. CD19, CD16 and CD14 positive cells are all less than 0.5%. CD19+ cells constituted 87.4±0.9% of the purified B cells. There were less than 0.5% of CD16 and CD14 positive cells in B cell sample. A small fraction of CD3+ cells (8.4%±0.4%) could be detected in B cell sample
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Bcl-2 expression in B cells and T cells of the control and SLE patients. Bcl-2 expression in the B cells of SLE patients is reduced in comparison to healthy controls (P=0.018). Median Bcl-2 expression in T cells of SLE patients is less than healthy controls although the whole expression is not significantly different
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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