Immune dysregulation is one of the mechanisms to promote endometriosis (EMS). Various T cell subpopulations have been reported to play different roles in the development of EMS. The mucosa-associated invariant T cell (MAIT) is an important T cell subset in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases. Evidence has indicated that there are three functionally distinct MAIT subsets: CD4+, CD8+ and CD4/CD8−/− (double negative, DN) MAIT cells. Till now, the associations between endometriosis and MAIT have not been studied. Our research investigates different MAIT subpopulations in peripheral blood (PB) and peritoneal fluid (PF) from EMS patients. Thirty-two EMS patients and eighteen controls were included. PB and PF were collected. Tests of cytokines in plasma and PF were performed by ELISA kit. Characterisations of MAIT were done by flow cytometry. MAIT cells have been defined as CD3 + CD161 + Vα7.2+ cells. Based on CD4 and CD8 expression, they were divided into CD8+MAIT, CD4+MAIT and DN MAIT. Enrichments of MAIT cells, especially CD4 and CD8 MAIT subsets were found. Moreover, CD8 MAIT cells had a high activation in the EMS group. EMS patients produced higher level of IL-8/12/17 as compared to these from controls. On the contrary, control patients exhibited an impressive upregulation of DN MAIT cells, however, these DN MAIT cells from controls showed a higher expression of PD-1. Lastly, we performed the relevance analysis, and discovered that the accumulation of PB MAIT cells positively correlated with an elevated level of serum CA125 production in EMS group. These results suggest that different MAIT subsets play distinct roles in the progression of endometriosis.

中文翻译：

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CD4 ⁺ / CD8 ⁺粘膜相关性恒定T细胞促进子宫内膜异位症的发展：一项初步研究

免疫失调是促进子宫内膜异位症（EMS）的机制之一。据报道，各种T细胞亚群在EMS的发展中起着不同的作用。在各种自身免疫性疾病的发病机理中，与粘膜相关的不变T细胞（MAIT）是重要的T细胞亚群。有证据表明存在三个功能上不同的MAIT亚群：CD4 +，CD8 +和CD4 / CD8-/-（双重阴性，DN）MAIT细胞。迄今为止，尚未研究子宫内膜异位症和MAIT之间的关联。我们的研究调查了来自EMS患者的外周血（PB）和腹膜液（PF）中的不同MAIT亚群。包括32例EMS患者和18例对照。收集PB和PF。用ELISA试剂盒检测血浆和PF中的细胞因子。MAIT的表征通过流式细胞仪完成。MAIT细胞已被定义为CD3 + CD161 +Vα7.2+细胞。根据CD4和CD8的表达，将它们分为CD8 + MAIT，CD4 + MAIT和DN MAIT。发现了MAIT细胞的富集，尤其是CD4和CD8 MAIT亚群。而且，CD8 MAIT细胞在EMS组中具有很高的激活率。与对照相比，EMS患者产生更高水平的IL-8 / 12/17。相反，对照患者表现出令人印象深刻的DN MAIT细胞上调，但是，来自对照的这些DN MAIT细胞显示出更高的PD-1表达。最后，我们进行了相关性分析，发现EMS组中PB MAIT细胞的积累与血清CA125产生水平呈正相关。这些结果表明，不同的MAIT子集在子宫内膜异位症的进展中起着不同的作用。