全身性エリテマトーデス患者の末梢血リンパ球におけるテロメラーゼ活性およびテロメア長の解析

摘要

テロメアは真核生物の染色体末端に存在する DNA蛋白質複合体であり，染色体の安定化には 必須の構造であると考えられている．ヒトのテ ロメアDNAはTTAGGGの繰り返し構造で，染 色体末端に位置している．%We investigated the clinical significance of telomerase activity and telomere length in peripheral blood T cells (CD3 + ) and B cells (CD19 + ) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Telomerase activity was measured with the telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay, and telomere length was measure with flow-fluorescence in situ hybridization. Patients with SLE were classified into those with active SLE and inactive SLE according to the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI). The T cell telomerase activity was significantly higher in patients with active or inactive SLE than in healthy subjects. However, the degree of telomerase activity was not correlated with the SLEDAI. In contrast. B cell telomerase activity was significantly higher in patients with active SLE than in healthy subjects and was strongly correlated with the SLEDAI. The T cell telomere length was significantly shorter in patients with SLE than in healthy subjects, whereas B cell telomere length did not differ between these two groups. These results suggest that in patients with SLE T cells are undergoing cell division continuously and that T cell telomerase activity is higher than normal but not high enough to prevent telomere shortening. However, we speculate that in B cells, cell division does not occur at an abnormally high rate in the inactive phase but occurs frequently in the active phase and that increased telomerase activity prevents telomere shortening.