Regulatory T cell kinetics in the peripheral blood of patients with Crohn’s disease

• Published in: Human immunology 2013-02, Vol.74 (2), p.145-150
• Main Authors: Rahman, Meher K, Offord, Chetan P, Khanna, Sahil, Ford, Godfrey C, Perrson, Xuan-Mai T, Svingen, Phyllis A, Xiong, Yuning, Bajzer, Zeljko, Faubion, William A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Allergy and Immunology; Apoptosis - immunology; Blood Glucose; Case-Control Studies; Crohn Disease - immunology; Crohn Disease - metabolism; Female; Humans; Immunologic Memory; Lymphocyte Activation - immunology; Male; Middle Aged; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - immunology; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - metabolism; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0198-8859; 1879-1166
• DOI: 10.1016/j.humimm.2012.10.021

Abstract Estimates of T regulatory cell populations in the periphery of patients with Crohn’s disease are confounded by disease activity and concomitant immunotherapeutic agents known to affect T cell proliferation and survival. We performed deuterium pulse/chase experiments in patients with quiescent Crohn’s disease on no immunotherapy and healthy control subjects to estimate T regulatory cell kinetics. Quantification of deuterated DNA isolated from T cell subsets over 10 days was determined by mass spectrophotometry. We demonstrate enhanced proliferation within the T regulatory cell population from patients with Crohn’s disease when compared to non-T regulatory cells and T regulatory cells from healthy control subjects. We speculate that T regulatory cells isolated from the periphery of patients with Crohn’s disease experience persistent antigen stimulation resulting in excess proliferative rates.