Thymopoiesis and regulatory T cells in healthy children and adolescents

• Autor(a) principal: Arismendi, Maria Izabel
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Kallás, Esper Georges, Santos, Bianca Almeida Natali dos, Carneiro-Sampaio, Magda Maria Sales, Kayser, Cristiane
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Clinics
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/clinics/article/view/40119
• topic: T lymphocytes; Thymus; Foxp3; T-cell Receptor

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between T cell receptor excision circle levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and regulatory T cells that co-express CD25 and Foxp3 in healthy children and adolescents of different ages. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quantification of signal-joint T-cell receptor excision circle levels in the genomic DNA of peripheral blood mononuclear cells was performed using real-time quantitative PCR. The analysis of CD4, CD8, CD25, and Foxp3 expression was performed using flow cytometry. RESULTS: Ninety-five healthy controls (46 females and 49 males) ranging in age from 1 to 18 years were analyzed. The mean T-cell receptor excision circle count in all individuals was 89.095¡36.790 T-cell receptor excision circles per microgram of DNA. There was an inverse correlation between T-cell receptor excision circles counts and age (r = -0.846; p