ArticleArthritis research & therapy2018
Enhanced IL-6/phosphorylated STAT3 signaling is related to the imbalance of circulating T follicular helper/T follicular regulatory cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Article in Arthritis research & therapy, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impaired function of PD-1Clinical and experimental immunology · 2021Trial
- The formation and function of tertiary lymphoid structures.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- IL-33/ST2 induces Tfh cells activation and GCs formation in collagen-induced arthritis.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Pathogenic Role of Cytokines in Rheumatoid Arthritis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Dual role of mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT) in asthma.The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma · 2025Review
- Calycosin synergizes with methotrexate in the treatment of Sjögren's disease by targeting BATF in T follicular helper cells.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2025Article
- Effects of Lipid Metabolites and Cross Organ Lipid Metabolism Regulation on Bone Homeostasis.Aging and disease · 2025Review
- Methylprednisolone Modulates the Tfr/Tfh ratio in EAE-Induced Neuroinflammation through the PI3K/AKT/FoxO1 and PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signalling Pathways.Inflammation · 2025Article
- CXCR5 engineered human and murine Tregs for targeted suppression in secondary and tertiary lymphoid organs.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Impaired immune tolerance mediated by reduced Tfr cells in rheumatoid arthritis linked to gut microbiota dysbiosis and altered metabolites.Arthritis research & therapy · 2024Article
- Exhausted signature and regulatory network of NK cells in myasthenia gravis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Cell-based therapies for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2023Review
- Clinical utility of measuring CD4Journal of autoimmunity · 2023Article
- Tertiary lymphoid structures in autoimmune diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- T follicular helper cells and T follicular regulatory cells in autoimmune diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Review
- The Emerging Roles of T Helper Cell Subsets and Cytokines in Severe Neutrophilic Asthma.Inflammation · 2022Article
- Norcantharidin ameliorates the development of murine lupus via inhibiting the generation of IL-17 producing cells.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2022Article
- Providing a Helping Hand: Metabolic Regulation of T Follicular Helper Cells and Their Association With Disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Dynamics of circulating follicular helper T cell subsets and follicular regulatory T cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients according to HLA-DRB1 locus.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Article
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9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFollicular helper T (Tfh) cells are specialized in helping B lymphocytes, which play a central role in autoimmune diseases that have a major B cell component, such as in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells control the over-activation of Tfh and B cells in germinal centers. Dysregulation of Tfh cells and Tfr cells has been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of some autoimmune diseases. However, the balance of Tfh and Tfr cells, and their roles in the development and progression of RA are still not clear.
methodsIn this study, we enrolled 44 patients with RA (20 patients with active RA and 24 patients with inactive RA) and 20 healthy controls, and analyzed the frequencies of circulating Tfh and Tfr cells, expression of programmed death-1 (PD-1), inducible co-stimulator (ICOS), intracellular IL-21, and pSTAT3 in Tfh cells, and serum levels of IL-6. The correlation among these parameters and that of Tfh or Tfr cells with disease activity were also analyzed.
resultsPatients with RA (especially active RA) had higher frequencies of Tfh cells, but lower percentages of Tfr cells, thereby resulting in elevated ratios of Tfh/Tfr. Expression levels of PD-1 and IL-21 in Tfh cells were higher in patients with RA than in healthy subjects, while no difference in ICOS expression was observed between patients and controls. Both pSTAT3 expression and serum IL-6 levels increased in patients with RA, and positive correlation between them was observed. Additionally, pSTAT3 expression was positively correlated with Tfh cell frequency. The Disease Activity Score in 28 joints based on C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) was negatively correlated with Tfr cell frequency, but was positively correlated with both Tfh/Tfr ratio and PD-1 expression.
conclusionsResults demonstrated that enhanced IL-6/pSTAT3 signaling may contribute to promotion of Tfh cells, consequently skewing the ratio of Tfh to Tfr cells, which may be crucial for disease progression in RA.
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