Blimp-1 Expression as an Exhaustion Transcription Factor in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Background: PPreviously, it was shown that exhausted CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) co-express the two immune-inhibitory receptors, Tim-3 and PD-1. Present study investigated the expression of Blimp-1, a transcription factor involved in T cell exhaustion, in patients wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saeid Taghiloo, Esmaeil Allahmoradi, Mohsen Tehrani, Ghasem Janbabaei, Ramin Shekarriz, Hossein Asgarian-Omran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services 2017-08-01
Series:Research in Molecular Medicine
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Online Access:http://rmm.mazums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-917-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1
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Summary:Background: PPreviously, it was shown that exhausted CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) co-express the two immune-inhibitory receptors, Tim-3 and PD-1. Present study investigated the expression of Blimp-1, a transcription factor involved in T cell exhaustion, in patients with CLL. Materials and Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from 25 untreated CLL patients and 15 sex- and age-matched normal subjects. CLL patients were clinically classified according to the Rai staging system. The relative expression of Blimp-1 mRNA was determined by quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) after normalization with β-actin. Results: Expression of Blimp-1 mRNA was much higher in CLL patients than in normal controls (p=0.001). Moreover, Blimp-1 was more expressed in patients with advanced clinical stages of CLL compared to those with early stages of the disease (p=0.01). Interestingly, the Blimp-1 expression was correlated with the frequencies of exhausted Tim-3+/PD-1+/CD4+ and Tim-3+/PD-1+/CD8+ T cells in CLL patients. Conclusion: Our results highlight the role of Blimp-1 transcription factor in T cell exhaustion of CLL.  
ISSN:2322-1348
2322-133X