Investigating correlation between gut microbiota and peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Abstract:

ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation between the distribution of critical differential bacterial populations and lymphocyte subsets in systemic lupus erythematosus （SLE） patients by detecting the abundance changes of intestinal microbiota and lymphocyte subsets.MethodsTwenty-three SLE patients and 16 healthy controls (HC) were included. Flow cytometry was used to detect the number of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets, and 16S rRNA technology was used to detect the diversity and abundance of intestinal microbiota. The correlation between peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and intestinal microbiota was investigated, and the experimental data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0.ResultsCompared with HC, the numbers of regulatory T（Treg） cells, initial CD4⁺T cells, and interferon（IFN）γ-secreting γδT cells in SLE patients were significantly reduced (t=-2.284,P=0.022;t=-2.084,P=0.037;t=-2.370,P=0.017), and follicular regulatory T （Tfr）, follicular helper T （Tfh）, germinal center B （GC-B）and B lymphocytes showed a downward trend. The relative abundance ofFirmicutesin SLE patients was significantly decreased (t=-2.323,P=0.020) and was positively correlated with Tfr (r=0.544,P=0.029) and GC-B cells (r=0.518,P=0.040). The abundance ofBacteroideteswas positively correlated with Tfr cells (r=0.521,P=0.039).ConclusionsThe peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and intestinal microbiota levels of SLE patients are significantly different from those of HC, there was a correlation between the intestinal flora and lymphocyte subpopulations in the intestinal tract of SLE patients, especially theFirmicutesandBacteroidetesare positively correlated with Tfr, Tfh and GC-B cells, suggesting that the structural changes of intestinal microbiota may affect lymphocyte subsets and mediate the progression of the disease.

Key words:Systemic lupus erythematosus,Gut microbiota,T follicular regulatory cell,T follicular helper cell

CLC Number:

R593.24

CEN Xing, ZHAO Chunmiao, BU Yujie, ZHAO Guifang, YANG Jinhua, CHEN Junwei. Investigating correlation between gut microbiota and peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus[J]. Journal of Internal Medicine Concepts & Practice, 2025, 20(02): 140-145.

Figures/Tables7

Table 1

Correlation analysis of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood and disease activity in patients with SLE

淋巴细胞亚群	ds-DNA		ESR		C3		C4		SLEDAI
淋巴细胞亚群	r	P	r	P	r	P	r	P	r	P
Treg细胞	-0.13	0.57	-0.31	0.15	0.01	0.96	-0.26	0.24	-0.24	0.28
初始CD4细胞	-0.20	0.36	-0.20	0.35	0.001	0.99	-0.22	0.32	-0.24	0.27
IFN-γ⁺γδT细胞	-0.12	0.59	-0.18	0.40	0.14	0.54	-0.14	0.53	-028	0.20
Th17细胞	-0.16	0.49	-0.09	0.67	0.05	0.83	-0.23	0.29	-0.27	0.22
Tfr细胞	-0.20	0.36	-0.13	0.54	-0.03	0.89	-0.29	0.19	-0.24	0.28
Tfh细胞	-0.19	0.40	-0.16	0.46	-0.01	0.98	-0.24	0.27	-0.23	0.28
GC-B细胞	-0.25	0.25	-0.17	0.44	0.07	0.74	-0.10	0.67	-0.19	0.39
B细胞	-0.37	0.09	0.06	0.79	-0.003	0.99	-0.13	0.58	0.04	0.87

Table 1

淋巴细胞亚群	HC组（n=16）	SLE组（n=23）	t	P
Treg细胞	1.59±1.30	0.80±1.20	-2.284	0.022
初始CD4⁺T细胞	48.61±58.56	46.31±110.32	-2.084	0.037
IFN-γ⁺γδT细胞	4.49±6.16	1.93±3.18	-2.370	0.017
Th17细胞	1.23±1.41	2.14±4.94	-0.542	0.601
Tfr细胞	0.31±0.55	0.20±0.20	0.228	0.832
Tfh细胞	3.90±7.38	2.96±6.68	-0.685	0.507
GC-B细胞	3.12±3.36	2.48±4.29	-1.114	0.275
B细胞	19.22±3.36	16.69±23.80	-1.599	0.114

Table 2

Figure 1

菌群	HC组（n=16）	SLE组（n=23）	t	P
厚壁菌门	0.62±0.13	0.48±0.19	-2.323	0.020
拟杆菌门	0.29±0.97	0.40±0.21	1.747	0.081
变形菌门	0.04±0.05	0.09±0.13	1.259	0.214
放线菌门	0.02±0.01	0.02±0.03	-0.339	0.745

Table 3

指数	HC组（n=16）	SLE组（n=23）	Z	P
丰度指数	289.00(213.25,356.50)	235.00(137.00，302.00)	-2.128	0.032
Chao1指数	333.10(284.83,363.18)	228.20(168.40,336.70)	-2.342	0.019
Shannon指数	3.76(3.52,4.07)	3.33(2.86,3.65)	2.202	0.034

Table 4

指标	厚壁菌门		拟杆菌门
ds-DNA	-0.061	0.821	0.139	0.608
ESR	-0.359	0.172	0.237	0.378
C3	0.265	0.340	-0.154	0.584
C4	0.431	0.109	-0.256	0.357
SLEDAI	-0.192	0.477	0.123	0.649

Table 5

淋巴细胞亚群	厚壁菌门		拟杆菌门
Treg细胞	0.385	0.141	-0.238	0.374
初始CD4⁺T细胞	0.397	0.128	-0.238	0.374
INF-γ⁺γδT细胞	-0.032	-0.905	0.141	0.602
Th17细胞	-0.026	0.922	0.150	0.579
Tfr细胞	0.544	0.029	-0.521	0.039
Tfh细胞	0.003	0.991	0.176	0.513
GC-B细胞	0.518	0.040	-0.221	0.412
B细胞	0.421	0.105	-0.153	0.572

Table 6

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