PD-1 and NFATc1 as promising immunotherapy for SLE patients

Abstract

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, autoimmune disease, with a wide range of clinical symptoms. This study aims to investigate PD-1 and NFATc1 gene expression in SLE patients. Methodology: In this study, 50 diagnosed SLE patients (25 females as early diagnosed SLE without treatment, 25 females as SLE patients under treatment with (prednisolone, hydroxychloroquine) and 25 healthy individuals as control whose ages arranges from 20 to 45 years were included. The gene expression level of PD-1 and NFATc1 were assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: A PD-1 gene expression level (folds) results showed a significant increase in the treated group (59.74 ± 33.26 folds) compared to early diagnosed group (23.18 ± 10.17 folds) and control group (3.46 ± 1.93 folds), and early diagnosed group showed a non-significant increase compared to control group. The NFATc1 gene expression level (folds) results showed a significant increase in the treated group (0.17 ± 0.16 folds) compared to early diagnosed group (0.003 ± 0.002 folds) and control group (0.001 ± 0.0007 folds), and early diagnosed group showed a non-significant increase compared to control group. Conclusions: Based on these results, PD-1 and NFATc1 is important in the SLE pathogenesis. These results may hold promise for developing a new SLE immunotherapy by focusing on PD-1 and NFATc1.