Frequency of circulating subpopulations of T‐regulatory cells in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa

Abstract

Background Decreased number of T‐regulatory cells (Tregs) and/or their loss of function potentially lead to uncontrolled immune‐mediated inflammatory responses. There are only few data available on Tregs in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) – a disease in which it has been suggested that host immune factors and an overactive immune system of the follicular epithelium play a pathogenetic role. Objectives To analyse frequencies of Tregs subpopulations in blood of HS patients in comparison with a healthy control group. Materials & methods Blood samples obtained from HS patients and healthy controls were evaluated by flow cytometry and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results The frequency of natural Tregs among CD4+ T lymphocytes were significantly reduced in the HS group compared to the healthy controls. The proportion of activated Tregs, non‐suppressive Tregs and proliferating Tregs showed no significant difference when compared to controls. Regarding Tregs frequencies, there was no significant difference between the three Hurley stages. Serum concentrations of IL‐10, TGF‐ß1 and IL‐17A did not show significant differences between the HS and control group. Conclusion The reduction of natural Tregs observed in blood of HS patients could be the result of Tregs homing to sites of inflammatory hot spots in HS skin. Further studies are justified evaluating the role of circulating Tregs during the evolution of HS lesions and as a biomarker for treatment response.

Proceeding report of the third symposium on Hidradenitis Suppurativa advances (SHSA) 2018

“…MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small molecules that negatively regulate gene expression and serve as effective biomarkers due to their abundance, cell‐type and disease‐stage specificity, and stability in clinical samples. Prior studies showed that miRNA processing factors (including Drosha and Dicer), as well as components of the RISC complex (AGO proteins), are distinctly and progressively downregulated from normal, perilesional, to lesional HS skin. The presence of many inflammatory miRNAs in lesional HS suggests a typical inflammatory response obscuring keratinocyte contribution .…”

Potential predictive biomarkers of adalimumab response in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa*

“…48 An interesting biomarker that showed a significant response to adalimumab in super-responders was MIP-3b, a homing chemoattractant that promotes T cells and dendritic cells to areas of lymphoid tissue where T-cell priming occurs. 40,41 Recent studies have shown that T effector and Treg cells are dysregulated in the circulation and HS lesional skin, 49 and the T effector/Treg axis was corrected in the circulation and lesional skin of patients with HS after receiving adalimumab. 50 A reduction in the inflammatory factors IL-8 and MIP-3b suggests that the inhibition of pathogenic effector T cells via TNF blockade may be associated with an improvement in immune dysregulation in HS, also providing additional insight into the mechanism of action of adalimumab in HS.…”

Association of Human Leukocyte Antigens Class II Variants with Susceptibility to Hidradenitis Suppurativa in a Caucasian Spanish Population

“…Several reports have focused on the role of immune dysregulation with complement abnormalities [ 31 , 32 ]. Recently, innate immunity, auto-inflammatory mechanisms, and distribution of certain T-cell lymphocyte subpopulations have been shown to influence the pathophysiology of HS [ 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”