Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
8.3
5.5
Journals
Biomolecules
Special Issues
The Role of CD4+ Th Cells and Regulatory T...
share announcement

The Role of CD4+ Th Cells and Regulatory T Cells in Autoimmune Diseases

A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 April 2023) | Viewed by 4997

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shengjun Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Jiangsu University Affiliated People’s Hospital, Jiangsu University School of Medicine, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: autoimmune diseases; rheumatoid arthritis; Hashimoto's thyroiditis; tumor immunology; CD4+ Th cells; MDSC
Dr. Jie Tian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Immunology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Jiangsu University School of Medicine, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: autoimune diseases; regulatory T cell; immune response; dendritic cells; flow cytometry; immune regulation; cellular immunology; T cell biology
Dr. Xun Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Polymers in Regeneration, Institute of Active Polymers, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, 14513 Teltow, Germany
Interests: antigen-specific T cells; regulatory T cells; macrophages; reactive oxygen species; induced pluripotent stem cells; organoids; epigenetic modification; mechanobiology; extracellular matrix; shape memory polymers; nano particles; hydrogel

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Autoimmune diseases (AIDs) are a complex group of diseases involving many different pathways within the innate and adaptive immune system. A crucial factor in determining immune response outcomes is the heterogeneity and plasticity of T cells, which are extremely heterogeneous with various combinations of surface markers and effector functions. Immune homeostasis results from a balance between effector T cells and regulatory T (Treg) cells. In particular, CD4+ Th cells and Treg cells have opposing functions and are the key to maintaining immune homeostasis. In autoimmune diseases, their stability, plasticity and function are dysregulated and the balance between both subsets is disturbed. Accumulated studies have demonstrated that an imbalance between pathogenic CD4+ Th cells and Treg cells contributes to the development of various autoimmune diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for dysregulation remain largely unknown.

The aim of this Research Topic is to improve our understanding of Th cell subsets and Treg cell dysregulation in autoimmunity. We welcome the submission of all types of manuscripts (e.g., reviews, research articles, and short communications). Topic areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Molecular mechanisms that regulate the function, stability and plasticity of Th cell subsets and Tregs in autoimmune diseases;
  • Environmental and metabolic factors that modulate the dysregulation of Th cell subsets and Tregs in autoimmune diseases;
  • Expansion of Treg cell populations as an experimental therapeutic approach to control autoimmune diseases;
  • Molecular mechanisms regulating Treg cell and Th cell migration into local inflamed tissues;
  • Regulation of non-coding RNAs on the dysregulation of Th cell subsets and Treg cells;
  • Autoimmune diseases-specific pathogenic Th cell subpopulations and their contribution to disease progression and response to therapy;
  • epigenetics modification of Th cell subsets and Treg cells during the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.

Prof. Dr. Shengjun Wang
Dr. Jie Tian
Dr. Xun Xu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Th cells
  • Treg cells
  • autoimmune diseases
  • epigenetics
  • environmental and metabolic factors
  • immunotherapy

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

11 pages, 520 KiB  
Article
SVM-Based Model Combining Patients’ Reported Outcomes and Lymphocyte Phenotypes of Depression in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
by Chen Dong, Nengjie Yang, Rui Zhao, Ying Yang, Xixi Gu, Ting Fu, Chi Sun and Zhifeng Gu
Biomolecules 2023, 13(5), 723; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13050723 - 23 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1218
Abstract
Background: The incidence of depression in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is high and leads to a lower quality of life than that in undepressed SLE patients and healthy individuals. The causes of SLE depression are still unclear. Methods: A total of [...] Read more.
Background: The incidence of depression in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is high and leads to a lower quality of life than that in undepressed SLE patients and healthy individuals. The causes of SLE depression are still unclear. Methods: A total of 94 SLE patients were involved in this study. A series of questionnaires (Hospital Depression Scale, Social Support Rate Scale and so on) were applied. Flow cytometry was used to test the different stages and types of T cells and B cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to explore the key contributors to depression in SLE. Support Vector Machine (SVM) learning was applied to form the prediction model. Results: Depressed SLE patients showed lower objective support, severer fatigue, worse sleep quality and higher percentages of ASC%PBMC, ASC%CD19+, MAIT, TEM%Th, TEMRA%Th, CD45RA+CD27-Th, TEMRA%CD8 than non-depressed patients. A learning-based SVM model combining objective and patient-reported variables showed that fatigue, objective support, ASC%CD19+, TEM%Th and TEMRA%CD8 were the main contributing factors to depression in SLE. With the SVM model, the weight of TEM%Th was 0.17, which is the highest among objective variables, and the weight of fatigue was 0.137, which was the highest among variables of patients’ reported outcomes. Conclusions: Both patient-reported factors and immunological factors could be involved in the occurrence and development of depression in SLE. Scientists can explore the mechanism of depression in SLE or other psychological diseases from the above perspective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of CD4+ Th Cells and Regulatory T Cells in Autoimmune Diseases)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 8187 KiB  
Article
Identification of Tregs-Related Genes with Molecular Patterns in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis Related to ILD
by Jiao Luo, Dongdong Li, Lili Jiang, Chunhua Shi and Lihua Duan
Biomolecules 2023, 13(3), 535; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13030535 - 15 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1632
Abstract
Background: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease that is characterized by vasculopathy, digital ulcers, Raynaud’s phenomenon, renal failure, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and fibrosis. Regulatory T (Treg) cell subsets have recently been found to play crucial roles in SSc with interstitial lung disease [...] Read more.
Background: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease that is characterized by vasculopathy, digital ulcers, Raynaud’s phenomenon, renal failure, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and fibrosis. Regulatory T (Treg) cell subsets have recently been found to play crucial roles in SSc with interstitial lung disease (ILD) pathogenesis. This study investigates the molecular mechanism of Treg-related genes in SSc patients through bioinformatic analyses. Methods: The GSE181228 dataset of SSc was used in this study. CIBERSORT was used for assessing the category and proportions of immune cells in SSc. Random forest and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis were used to select the hub Treg-related genes. Results: Through bioinformatic analyses, LIPN and CLEC4D were selected as hub Treg-regulated genes. The diagnostic power of the two genes separately for SSc was 0.824 and 0.826. LIPN was associated with the pathway of aminoacyl−tRNA biosynthesis, Primary immunodeficiency, DNA replication, etc. The expression of CLEC4D was associated with the pathway of Neutrophil extracellular trap formation, PPAR signaling pathway, Staphylococcus aureus infection, Systemic lupus erythematosus, TNF signaling pathway, and Toll−like receptor signaling pathway. Conclusion: Through bioinformatic analyses, we identified two Treg-related hub genes (LIPN, CLEC4D) that are mainly involved in the immune response and metabolism of Tregs in SSc with ILD. Moreover, our findings may provide the potential for studying the molecular mechanism of SSc with ILD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of CD4+ Th Cells and Regulatory T Cells in Autoimmune Diseases)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 1323 KiB  
Article
Elevated Expression and Activation of GPR15 in Immune Cells in Graves’ Disease
by Jing Zhao, Xuerong Liu, Jianbin Xu, Yudie Fang, Peng Du, Chaoqun Gao, Tiantian Cai, Zhaohua Gu, Qiu Qin and Jin’an Zhang
Biomolecules 2022, 12(12), 1899; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12121899 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1657
Abstract
GPR15 plays an important role in lymphocyte homing and is a key immune molecule to maintain organ immune homeostasis. Yet, no study on the association between GPR15 and Graves’ disease (GD) is available. In this study, we systematically investigated the expression of GPR15 [...] Read more.
GPR15 plays an important role in lymphocyte homing and is a key immune molecule to maintain organ immune homeostasis. Yet, no study on the association between GPR15 and Graves’ disease (GD) is available. In this study, we systematically investigated the expression of GPR15 in different types of immune cells and different tissues of GD patients. We found that the expressions of GPR15 and GPR15L in peripheral blood of GD patients were increased compared with those in healthy controls. A flow cytometry analysis showed that GPR15 positive cells were mainly CD14+ monocytes and CD56+ natural killer cells (NK cells) of innate immunity, T helper cells and cytotoxic T cells of adaptive immunity. We also found that the expressions of GPR15 and GPR15L in the PBMC of GD patients were positively correlated with the Tfh-specific cytokines IL21 and IL4. In addition, immunohistochemistry showed that the level of GPR15 in thyroid tissue of GD patients was higher than that of the control group. Our results demonstrate for the first time that GPR15 is highly expressed in various immune cells in GD patients, suggesting that GPR15-GPR15L is associated with the activation and infiltration of proinflammatory immune cells in the thyroid tissue of GD patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of CD4+ Th Cells and Regulatory T Cells in Autoimmune Diseases)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop