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Semaphorin 3A is a marker for disease activity and a potential immunoregulator in systemic lupus erythematosus Full Text
Arthritis Research & Therapy, 06/15/2012
Vadasz Z et al. – This is the first study in which reduced serum level of Semaphorin 3A (sema 3A) was found to be in association with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease activity. It also raises the possibility that sema3A may have a regulatory function in SLE.
Methods- Thirty two SLE and 24 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were assessed and compared with 40 normal individuals.
- Sema 3A serum levels were measured and correlated with SLE disease activity.
- In–vitro effect of sema 3A in reducing Toll–like receptor 9 (TLR–9) expression in B cells of SLE patients was evaluated.
- Sema 3A serum levels in SLE patients were found to be significantly lower than in RA patients (55.04+/–16.30 ng/ml vs. 65.54+/–14.82 ng/ml, P=0.018) and lower yet than in normal individuals (55.04+/–16.30 ng/ml vs. 74.41+/–17.60 ng/ml, P<0.0001).
- Altered serum sema 3A levels were found to be in inverse correlation with SLE disease activity, mainly with renal damage.
- The expression of both sema 3A and NP–1 on B cells from SLE patients was significantly different in comparison with normal healthy individuals.
- Finally, when sema 3A was co–cultured with CpG–ODN stimulated B cells of SLE patients, their TLR–9 expression was significantly reduced, by almost 50% (P=0.001).