RESUMEN

Objective To compare the expression level of interferon regulator factor 5 (IRF5) of the health controls and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and analyze the relationship between IRF5 and SLE disease activity. Methods Peripheral blood monoeytes (PBMCs) from SLE patients and healthy donors were separated with Ficoll density gradient eentrifugation and total cellular RNA was isolated with Trizol from the PBMCs, the mRNA was reverse transcripted to cDNA. Real-time PCR was applied to determine the expression level of IRFS. The expression level of IRF5 between the two groups were compared. The correlations of expression level of IRF5 with SLE disease activity and other laboratory or clinical parameters of SLE patients were analyzed. Results The level of IRF5 was (2.1±2.2) in SLE patients and (1.5±1.2) in healthy controls, the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.161). And the levels of IRF5 in SLE patients were significantly correlated with their SLEDAI (r=0.616,P<0.01), but not correlated with other parameters such as bemoglobulin complements, immunoglobulin etc. Anti-dsDNA antibody positive patients had significantly higher expression of IRF5 compared to the anti-dsDNA-antibedy-negative patients. The IRF5 mRNA levels of SLE patients with fever or neuropsyehiatric symptoms were significantly higher than those of patients free of neuropsychiatrie involvement. Conclusion High expression level of 1RF5 may contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE in disease activity and antibody production.