Abstract
Steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) is classically thought to be a T-cell disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether or not thymus homeostasis was affected in SSNS. Mature and naive T cell recent thymic emigrants were quantified in the peripheral blood of nephrotic patients and controls. Because the generation of new T cells by the thymus ultimately depends on hematopoietic stem cells, CD34+ cells were also included in the study. Nineteen patients with SSNS during relapse, 13 with SSNS during proteinuria remission, and 18 controls were studied. Cell-surface markers (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD16, CD56, CD45RA, CD62L, CD34, and CD38) were analyzed by flow cytometric analysis. T-cell rearrangement excision circles (TRECs) were quantified in CD2+ cells by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Stroma cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) genotype and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) plasma levels were also determined. Mature T cells (CD4+ and CD8+), circulating naive T cells (CD62L+ and CD3+ CD62L+), and recent thymic emigrants (CD45RA+) as well as TRECs, that measure thymus production, had a similar level in the three groups of patients. Conversely, CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells displayed a two-fold increase in SSNS patients during relapse either compared with controls or SSNS patients at remission. In addition, compared with controls, SSNS patients at remission displayed (1) a decrease in CD19+ cells (B cells) and (2) an increase in CD16CD56+ cells [natural killer (NK) cells]. In conclusion, thymus homeostasis is not significantly affected in nephrotic patients. Hematopoietic stem-cell mobilization at proteinuria relapse, as well as changes in B and NK cells during remission, suggest that SSNS might be due to a general disturbance of hematopoietic and immune cell trafficking.
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Acknowledgments
For their expert technical assistance, we especially thank Mir Moshasha, Christophe Raduget, Olivier Romagné, Hervé Rozenbaum, and Frédérique Siotto for flow cytometry, Marie-Noëlle Marson for SDF-1 genotyping, and Nadine Bonnin for G-CSF and MMP-9 immunoassays. Aurélie Bados kindly contributed to clinical data gathering. We are deeply indebted to Alain Doucet for helpful discussion and manuscript proofreading.
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Hélène Lapillonne and Annelaure Leclerc contributed equally to the paper.
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Lapillonne, H., Leclerc, A., Ulinski, T. et al. Stem cell mobilization in idiopathic steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome. Pediatr Nephrol 23, 1251–1256 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-008-0793-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-008-0793-2