Abstract:

Objective To investigate the level and clinical significance of fine typing of memory T lymphocyte subsets before and after initial glucocorticoid（GC）treatment in children with steroid ⁃sensitivenephroticsyndrome （SSNS）. Methods Thirty⁃five children diagnosed with SSNS for the first time were selected as the research group， and twenty healthy children were enrolled as the normal control group. Multicolor flow cytometry was adopted to analyze the fine typing of memory T lymphocyte subsets in children with SSNS before initial treatment and in remission after treatment，and in the control group. Immunosorbent assay（ELISA）was used to detect the level of T⁃cell cytokines ineachgroup，and then the correlation analysis was performed with clinical indexes. Results CD4+ memory T cells（TM），CD4 + central memory T（TCM）cells and CD4 + effector memory T cells（TEM）in the active phase of GC in the SSNS children before initial treatment，CD8+ CD45RO+ TM，CD8+ TEM percentages（% of CD3+ T cells）were higher than those in the remission period and control group after treatment，and the CD4 + naïve T cells（TN）in the active phase were statistically significantly decreased in number compared with those in the remis⁃ sion period（P < 0.05），the percentage of stem ⁃like memory T cells（TSCM）in the active phase was significantly higher than that in the remission phase and the control group（P < 0.001）. Before treatment，the number of T cell cytokines including IL⁃1β，IL⁃8 and IFN⁃γ in the active stage was significantly larger than those in the remission stage and control group（P < 0.05）and CD4+ TEM ratio was significantly negatively correlated withalbuminand CD4+ TN ratio（P < 0.01）and positively correlated with IFN⁃γ levels（P < 0.05）. Conclusion Abnormal distribution of TSCM/TM subsets and disturbance of some T cell cytokines were found in SSNS children，and there was a closed relationship between them ，suggesting abnormal TSCM/TM subsets play an important role in the occurrence anddevelopment of the disease；GC application affected the distribution of TM and TSCM functional subsets in children with SSNS.

Key words:

steroid?sensitive nephrotic syndrome, memory T lymphocyte subsets, cytokines