Regulatory T cell subsets in children with systemic lupus erythematosus

The aim of this work was to quantify CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ T cells (Tregs) in Egyptian children with SLE and to correlate these findings with their disease activity scores and drug therapy. We enrolled 37 Egyptian children with active SLE. Disease activity was assessed by measuring serum levels of anti-dsDNA antibody and by the SLEDAI scores. Twenty healthy children were also enrolled as normal controls. The CD4+CD25+, CD4+CD25^bright, and CD4+CD25^dim cells in patients were significantly increased in comparison to controls. There was no significant difference in the Foxp3 gated on CD4+CD25^bright and CD4+CD25^dim, but there was a significant increase when gated on CD4+CD25− and whole CD4+ cells in patients than controls. There was no significant difference among patients with different degrees of activity on different lines of treatments and their outcomes as regards all studied values. There was no significant correlation between SLEDAI score and any of the studied parameters except for a significant negative correlation with gated lymphocytes. There is increased expression of Foxp3 in CD4+ T cells mostly CD25− in Egyptian children with active SLE under corticosteroid treatment regardless of disease activity.