الفهرس Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Objectives: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. Several studies indicate a role for toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the pathogenesis of SLE. This study was undertaken to assess the role of TLR7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and its expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs), CD3+ T lymphocytes and CD19+ B lymphocytes, with respect to SLE susceptibility in Egyptian females and whether these findings contribute to the disease pathogenesis, activity and degree of organ damage.Method: The study subjects compromised 30 female patients with SLE and 20 age matched healthy female controls, tested for TLR7 SNP rs(179019) and rs(3853839) genotypes by Real time PCR and TLR7 protein expression in PBMNCs and CD3+ and CD19+ lymphocytes by flowcytometry.Results: A significant association was found between the rs(179019) and the rs(3853839) SNPs of TLR7 and SLE occurrence. However, no statistically significant relation was found between these polymorphisms and the disease activity as well as the degree of organ damage. Results also showed significantly increased expression of TLR7 in PBMNCs, CD3+ T lymphocytes and CD19+ B lymphocytes with no relation with the disease activity and the degree of organ damage. The TLR7 SNPs were not significantly associated with levels of TLR7 protein expression in PBMNCs, T and B lymphocytes