The most prominent differences were noted in the percentages of DN and CD8 T cells expressing SLAM receptors. experienced an increased percentage of circulating monocytes, consistent with a potential role played by these cells in glomerular inflammation. Changes in the frequency of DN T cells positive for SLAMF2, SLAMF4 and SLAMF7 were observed in lupus patients irrespective of the disease activity. We detected alterations in the cellular expression of the SLAM family receptors, but these changes were less obvious and did not reveal any specific pattern. The percentage Mirtazapine of DN T cells expressing SLAMF6 could predict the clinical response to B-cell depletion in patients with LN. Conclusion. Our study demonstrates altered expression of the SLAM family receptors in SLE T lymphocytes. This is consistent with the importance of the SLAM-associated pathways in lupus pathogenesis. Online. All antibodies were obtained from e-Bioscience (San Diego, CA, USA) unless noted differently. Non-specific Fc-mediated interactions were blocked with human Fc receptor binding inhibitor. Circulation cytometry was performed with a BD FACSVerse (BD Biosciences). Data were analysed using FlowJo software, version 10 (TreeStar, Ashland, OR, USA). Statistical analysis Results were expressed as the mean (s.d.) or median with interquartile range. Comparisons between two groups were performed using the MannCWhitney IHDHDOnline). This relative increase is likely to be the result of the more severe lymphopenia in patients with active disease. SLAM receptors on DN and CD8 T cellspotential biomarkers of renal disease activity Previous reports have shown that this SLAM gene family may act as an important alternate pathway for T-cell co-stimulation and that certain members are expressed abnormally in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from SLE patients [13C16]. To assess this in our individual cohort, we analysed Mirtazapine all SLAM receptors around the three main T-cell subpopulations: CD4, CD8 and DN cells. Owing to technical limitations, we aborted the assessment of SLAMF1 expression after the analysis of the first 12 patients. At this stage, there were no differences between the three experimental groups (data not shown). The study of the remaining SLAM users, SLAMF2CSLAMF7 inclusive, is usually presented in Mirtazapine Table 3, and the most useful findings are shown in Fig. Mirtazapine 1. The most prominent differences were noted in the percentages of DN and CD8 T cells expressing SLAM receptors. The frequency of DN T cells positive for SLAMF2, SLAMF4 or SLAMF7 was markedly altered in SLE patients, but these differences were unrelated to PLA2G4F/Z the disease activity. In contrast, the proportion of CD8 T cells expressing SLAMF3, SLAMF5 or SLAMF7 was significantly lower in the lupus patients in clinical remission compared with the other two groups (Fig. 1A). A repeated analysis using samples taken at a different time from a small number of individuals showed consistent results, demonstrating that this changes were stable (data not shown). Differences in the expression of SLAMF2, SLAMF3 or SLAMF4 were also noticed, but these changes were less obvious and did not show a clear pattern (Fig. 1B). Overall, in comparison with healthy controls, the differences in expression were more marked in the inactive rather than the active LN patients. Table 3 Analysis of signalling lymphocyte activation molecule receptors on CD4+, CD8+ and double unfavorable T cells IHDHDIHDHD[14] showed that SLE patients experienced significantly fewer SLAMF4-expressing CD8 T cells compared with healthy controls and that these cells were functionally impaired. Interestingly, these cells experienced an increased propensity to lose CD8 and to become DN T cells, spontaneously as well as upon activation. Furthermore, a reduced proportion of NK cells and monocytes positive for SLAMF4 was reported by Kim [16], and a single nucleotide polymorphism of SLAMF4 has been associated with the presence of renal and Mirtazapine neuropsychiatric manifestations in SLE patients [37]. SLAMF4 is known to interact with high affinity with SLAMF2 (CD48), and this conversation can mediate both activating and inhibitory pathways, depending on the cell.