To explore the expression of GITR/GITRL in rheumatoid arthritis(RA) and its correlation with clinical features of the disease.
Fifty three RA patients, 35 osteoarthritis (OA) patients and 35 healthy volunteers were included in the study. The real-time-fluorescence quantitative PCR method was used to analyze the expression level of GITR/GITRL mRNA. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting(FACS), the expression of GITR on CD4+CD25+ T cells in peripheral blood monouuclear cells (PBMC) was detected. The levels of Anti-CCP antibody, C-reactive protein(CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) and rheumatoid factor (RF) of the RA patients were measured at the same time.
It was shown that the level of GITR/GITRL mRNA and the percentage of GITR+ T cells in the CD4+CD25+ T cell subpopulation[12.38+/-5.72/16.41+/-10.16,(28.12+/-16.85)%] were significantly higher than those of the OA group [9.59+/-5.87/12.09+/-7.53,(21.01+/-14.42)%,P<0.05] and control group [8.75+/-3.78/11.99+/-8.42,(19.98+/- 9.40)%,P<0.05]. The expression of GITR/GITRL from RA patients was positively associated with the level of DAS28 and ESR (r=0.361,r=0.427,P<0.01).
The GITR/GITRL expression of RA patients was higher than that of other groups which may play an important role in the development of RA.