Role of regulatory B cells in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis and lupus vasculitis.

Background:Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that affects many organs.It is common in women during age of reproduction with a ratio of female to male 10:1.It exhibits variable clinical manifestations affecting body organs and may lead to life threating conditions. Objective: Expression of cell surface markers CD19,CD24,CD38 and IL-10 assessment in patients with lupus nephritis and vasculitis. Patients and Methods:The present study was carried out at Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine,Minia University.It was conducted on 50 subjects divided into 20 apparently healthy individuals as a control group and 30 patients of SLE,they were subdivided into 2 subgroups (17 patients with lupus nephritis and 13 patients with lupus vasculitis).Routine laboratory investigations were done to all participants.The cell surface markers of B regulatory cell(CD19,CD24,CD38) detected by flowcytometry and IL-10 was measured by ELISA Results:There was statistically significant difference between studied groups regarding urea,creatinine,A/C ratio,24 hours protein,serum albumin and total protein,ANA was also positive in both group of lupus nephritis and group of lupus vasculitis.ESR,CRP, Anti-dsDNA,C3 and C4 showed statistically significant difference between studied groups.Concerning IL 10,it was higher in control group than patients group giving statistically significant difference between studied groups.Regarding Regulatory B lymphocytes,there was no statistically significant difference between studied groups. Conclusion:Further studies about the role of the Bregs in the inflammatory response will improve our understanding of the etiology of autoimmune diseases and aid in the development of approaches to the therapeutic modalities employing the use of Bregs.IL-10 may be a useful biomarker for disease activity in SLE.