Evaluation of the interaction between anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein family mRNA expression and autophagy gene Bcl-1 expression in Egyptian SLE patients

Abstract

Objectives Autophagy is a complex cellular process that maintains homeostasis in systemic lupus erythematosus. Abnormally high expression of Bcl-2 was observed in B and T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood in SLE patients. These may be responsible for the survival of self-reactive lymphocytes and the development of lupus, and the study aims at evaluating interaction between apoptosis and autophagy in Egyptian lupus patients. Methods Sixty patients with SLE were diagnosed by fulfilling the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) classification criteria for SLE and sixty healthy age and sex matched control. All patients were subjected to full medical history and clinical examination. Activity was assessed using SLEDAI-2K score. Gene expression of Beclin-1, Bcl-2-L2, and Bcl-2 was measured. Results The study revealed that the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-2-L2 was significantly higher in SLE patients than control subjects, as well as the major apoptotic agent (Beclin-1) mRNA, p = 0.03, < 0.001 and 0.02, respectively. The apoptotic Beclin-1 mRNA was positively correlated with SLE disease severity index, r = 0.25; p = 0.0.4; therefore, our results showed that expression of the Beclin-1 was significantly higher in SLE patients than control ( p < 0.02). Conclusion The study showed that the mean levels of Beclin‐1, LC‐3, and interleukin (IL)‐10 transcripts were significantly higher in SLE patients than in control.

Study of LRRK2 and Beclin-1: Gene expression as autophagic markers in systemic lupus Erythromatosus in Egyptian populations

“…Beclin1 expression was positively associated with SLE disease activity index. This agreed with Khalil et al [20] , Tanaka et al [21] , Raj et al [22] Skibo et al [23] has demonstrated that beclin1 and Vps34 revealed that SLE patients' T cells have more protein than normal. In mammals, the beclin1 (Atg6) gene is essential for autophagy.…”