| Abstract: | AIM: To investigate the expression and regulation of A20 in healthy individuals and the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: The expression levels of A20, NF-κB, MALT1, and MALT1V1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of the patients with SLE (including 2 cases with scleroderma, 1 case with rheumatoid arthritis, and 1 case with lymphoma) were analyzed by real-time PCR. RESULTS: A significantly lower A20 expression level was found in the PBMC from SLE group compared with the healthy controls, while the expression levels of MALT1 and NF-κB were also decreased. In addition, no significant correlation between A20 and NF-κB expression levels in healthy group was observed, but a positive correlation was found in SLE group (P<0.05). A significant positive correlation between MALT1 and NF-κB expression levels in healthy group (P<0.05) was observed, and no significant correlation was found in SLE group. The expression level of MALT1V1 in SLE group was significantly lower than that in healthy control group, and there was a positive correlation between A20 and MALT1V1 in healthy volunteers (P<0.01), but that did not exist in SLE group. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of the expression pattern of MALT1-A20-NF-κB in the SLE patients were presented. Lower level of A20 expression was found in the SLE patients, in particular with other autoimmune disease or lymphomas, indicating the lower immune tolerance in SLE. The positive correlation of A20 and NF-κB may relate to positive regulation of MALT1. |
