TLR‐7 and ‐9 Stimulation of Peripheral Blood B Cells Indicate Altered TLR Signalling in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome Patients by Increased Secretion of Cytokines. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Karlsen, M.; Jonsson, R.; Brun, J. G.; Appel, S.; Hansen, T.
• Is Part Of: Scandinavian journal of immunology. Volume 82:Number 6(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 523
• Page End: 531
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Immunology -- Periodicals; 571.96
• DOI: 10.1111/sji.12368
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0300-9475

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="sji12368-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease characterised by lymphocytic infiltrations in the exocrine glands, resulting in destruction of salivary and lacrimal glands. B cells have an important role in the disease, as detection of autoantibodies against SSA/Ro or SSB/La is one of the diagnostic criteria, being found in a majority of the patients. Toll‐like receptors (TLR) are pattern recognition receptors. TLR‐7 and ‐9 are found in endosomes and bind microbial nucleic acids. We have previously shown that pSS patients and healthy controls have similar expression pattern of TLR‐7 and ‐9 in various B‐cell populations. In this study we further analysed the responsiveness of B cells upon TLR stimulation. B cells isolated from peripheral blood of 21 pSS patients and 18 healthy controls were stimulated with TLR‐7 and ‐9 ligands for 24 h before being analysed for the expression of certain surface markers and intracellular cytokine levels by flow cytometry. Secreted cytokines were measured by a multiplex cytokine assay. Patients with pSS had more naïve and less preswitched memory B cells compared to controls in unstimulated as well as via TLR‐7 stimulated cells. Unstimulated and via TLR‐7 stimulated B cells from pSS patients also had fewer IL‐10<sup>+</sup> preswitched memory B cells. Moreover, TLR‐7 and ‐9 stimulated B cells of pSS patients secreted increased amounts of several cytokines. B cells of pSS patients show a different responsiveness upon stimulation of TLR‐7 and ‐9 compared to controls.</p> </abstract>