Expression and significance of GARP, Foxp3 and TGF-β in PBMC of Hashimoto's thyroiditis patients

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression level of mRNA and significance of glycoprotein-A repetitions predominant protein (GARP), Forkhead box protein p3 (Foxp3) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) patients.

MethodsThirty-two patients with HT were selected as the observation group and 32 healthy examinees as the control group.The levels of serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), total triiodothyronine (TT3) and total thyroxine (TT4) were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay, and the levels of thyroid antibodies TmAb and TgAb were detected by radioimmunoassay.Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression levels of GARP, Foxp3 and TGF-β mRNA in PBMC of HT patients.The correlation of GARP, Foxp3 and TGF-β mRNA expression level in PBMC of HT patients with the level of thyroid function index was analyzed.

ResultsThere was no significant difference in TT3, TT4 and TSH levels between the two groups (P>0.05).The levels of TgAb and TmAb in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.01).The expression levels of GARP, Foxp3 and TGF-β mRNA in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.01).Pearson correlation analysis showed that the expression level of GARP mRNA in PBMC of HT patients was negatively correlated with the level of TgAb (P < 0.05) and significantly positively correlated with the level of TT3 (P < 0.01).

ConclusionsThe expression of GARP, Foxp3 and TGF-β mRNA in PBMC of HT patients is decreased.GARP mRNA is negatively correlated with the level of TgAb and significantly positively correlated with the level of TT3, which may be related to the occurrence and development of HT.