485 Regulatory T Cells Subsets in Children with Sle

In the case of SLE, Treg deficiencies have been described in mouse models of SLE. However, there are somehow conflicting data in the literature on whether Treg cells in human SLE are numerically and/or functionally impaired. We aimed to quantify CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells in children with SLE and to correlate these findings with their disease activity scores and drug therapy. We enrolled 37 pediatric SLE patients and 20 healthy children. The disease activity was assessed by measuring serum levels of anti-dsDNA antibody and by using scores of SLEDAI. The CD4+CD25+, CD4+CD25 bright and CD4+CD25 dim cells in patients were significantly increased than controls. There was no significant difference in the FoxP3% gated on CD4+CD25 bright , CD4+CD25 dim and CD4+CD25-cells in patients and controls and between different grades of activity, different lines of treatments and patients outcomes as regards all studied values. There was no significant correlation between any of studied parameters with SLEDAI score except gated lymphocytes which have significant negative correlation. The increase of CD4+ CD25+ T cells in pediatric patients with active SLE may be a result of increased usage of corticosteroids that affect the phenotype of the T cells without affection on its regulatory suppression function indicated by FoxP3.