T cell receptor Zeta chain (TCRζ) expression in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura | ||
| Bulletin of Egyptian Society for Physiological Sciences | ||
| Article 4, Volume 32, Issue 1, June 2012, Pages 47-58 PDF (311.91 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/besps.2012.35484 | ||
| Author | ||
| Dalia GA* | ||
| Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Background: T cell receptor zeta chain (TCRζ) plays a critical role in signal transduction via TCR. Defective signaling through TCRζ-CD3 components may disrupt peripheral T cell tolerance to autoantigen, giving rise to a variety of autoimmune diseases. The aim of this work was to evaluate TCRζ chain gene expression in patients with ITP, thereby to understand the functioning status of T cells and its possible contribution to disease outcome. Methods: SYBR Green based Realtime relative quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate TCRζ gene expression in 49 ITP patients and 35 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Results: Patients in acute phase of ITP had a significantly lower TCRζ gene expression compared to those in chronic phase and those of the control group; on the other hand TCRζ gene expression was significantly lower in chronic ITP patients than in controls. Patients with active ITP had a significantly lower TCRζ gene expression compared to those in remission and those of control group (P < 0.001). TCRζ gene expression was significantly lower in ITP patients in remission state in comparison to the control group. Treated ITP patients had a significantly higher TCRζ gene expression compared to untreated patients, however TCRζ gene expression in the treated group was still significantly lower compared to controls (P<0.001). Complete responders had a significantly higher TCRζ gene expression compared to non responders (P<0.001), while no significant difference was found between nonresponders and partial responders as regards TCRζ gene expression (P>0.05). The level of TCRζ gene expression in complete responders was still significantly lower compared to controls (P<0.001). Sequential analyses for TCRζ gene expression in 6 patients with stable disease revealed no significant difference in median TCRζ gene expression values in the 3 consequents analyses (P>0.05). TCRζ gene expression showed no significant correlation with any of the clinical or hematological data. Conclusion: From these data, it could be suggested that downregulation of TCRζ may represent intrinsic defects of potential pathogenetic significance for ITP. Therapy targeted to normalization of TCRζ expression may represent a new strategy for treatment of ITP patients after being validated in clinical trials. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| TCRζ; qRT-PCR; ITP | ||
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