Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Cosmi, Lorenzo

Titel

Th17 and Treg lymphocytes as cellular biomarkers of disease activity in Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

Ist Teil von

• European journal of immunology, 2017-04, Vol.47 (4), p.633-636

Ort / Verlag

Germany: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) (formerly known as Wegener's granulomatosis) is a vasculitis of unknown etiology affecting predominantly small‐ to medium‐sized vessels, usually involving the upper and lower respiratory tract and kidneys. Anti‐neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies are probably the initial cause of the inflammatory process that leads to the typical necrotizing lesions. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Szczeklik et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2017. 47: 724–733] report some interesting findings on the possible involvement of T‐cell subsets in the pathogenesis of the disease. This prospective study, performed on a large cohort of patients, identifies Th17 lymphocytes as the possible pathogenic subset of GPA, and Treg cells as the possible suppressors of the inflammatory process. These two subsets in peripheral blood could be used as cellular biomarkers of disease activity, and this would result particularly useful in the follow‐up of patients once the immunosuppressive treatment has been initiated. Th17 expansion with depletion of Treg subset is a typical feature of the active phase of GPA (left). An impairment of Th17 subset is observed early after induction of remission, with immunosuppressive therapy (middle). Later, in sustained remission, Treg cells are expanded and can efficaciously control Th17‐driven inflammation (right).