{
  "abstract": "Objectives The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential role of different Tregs subpopulations as biomarkers of disease activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients, and their potential association with specific disease-related manifestations.Methods We enrolled SLE patients (diagnosed according to EULAR/ACR 2019 classification criteria) and the main clinical, serological and therapeutical features were registered. Furthermore, we classified these subjects in terms of disease activity, as assessed by SLEDAI-2k values.PBMCs were isolated and different regulatory T cell subsets, along with surface markers, were analyzed by flow-cytometry(FACSCanto II Flow Cytometer - FACS Diva Software.Results We included 53 SLE patients (M/F 3/50; median age 45 years, IQR 19.5; median disease duration 144 months, IQR 156). At the time of analysis, 25 patients (47.2%) were treated by GCs, 48 by HCQ (90.6%), 25 (47.2%) by at least one immunosuppressive drugs. we found a median SLEDAI-2kequal to 2 (IQR 6). Indeed, active disease was defined for a SLEDAI-2k value not lower to 4, excluding only serology.Indeed, 26 (49.0%) patients showed an active disease at the enrolment time. Furthermore, 13 patients showed active joint involvement, 7 patients had skin manifestations, 4 showed active renal involvement, 1 patient haematological manifestation and 1 subject serositis.Active patients showed significantly higher median Treg percentage [9.5 (IQR 6) versus 6.1 (IQR 6), p=0.04]. We also evaluated Treg subpopulations and we found significantly higer resting Treg% in active patients compared with non active [1.38 (IQR 1.6) versus 0.75 (IQR 0.8), p=0.01; figure 1A]. Moreover, a significant correlation between resting Treg% and SLEDAI-2k values was observed(p=0.003, R 0.4, r2 0.15, 95%CI 0.04-0.21. For the same Treg sub-population we registered significant higher percentage in patients with active renal and joint manifestations (figure 1B).No differences were found for other Treg sub-populations.Abstract PO:01:008 Figure 1(A) %resting Tcells in patients with active and non active disease according to SLEDAI-2k values. (B) %resting Tcells according to disease manifestationsConclusions Although an increasing number of studies have investigated and confirmed aberrations in Tregs in SLE pathogenesis, the pathogenetic role of different Treg subsets and their potential use as disease biomarkers needs to be further investigated. In this field, out study aim at clarifying the possible role of resting Tregs subset as biomarkers for disease activity and phenotype.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Cardiovascolari, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy"
      ],
      "name": "Fulvia Ceccarelli"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Cardiovascolari, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy"
      ],
      "name": "Valeria Moretti"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dpt. of Experimental Medicine Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy"
      ],
      "name": "Angela Asquino"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Cardiovascolari, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy"
      ],
      "name": "Claudia Ciancarella"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Cardiovascolari, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy"
      ],
      "name": "Fabrizio Conti"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Dpt. of Experimental Medicine Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy"
      ],
      "name": "Ilaria Grazia Zizzari"
    }
  ],
  "title": "PO:01:008 Treg subpopulations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a possible role as biomarkers for disease activity",
  "uid": "52b0b66d-7e52-5111-bd95-71e12277c52a"
}