TY - JOUR ID - 39898 TI - Expression Pattern of Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Variants and Bcl-2 in Peripheral Lymphocytes of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients JO - Iranian Journal of Pathology JA - IJP LA - en SN - 1735-5303 AU - Attar, Armin AU - Khosravi Maharlooei, Mohsen AU - Nazarnia, Mohammad AU - Hosseini, Ahmad AU - Bajalli, Zohre AU - Moeini, Yalda Sadat AU - Monabati, Ahmad AU - Amirmoezi, Fatemeh AU - Jaberipour, Mansooreh AU - Habibagahi, Mojtaba AD - Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Division of Interventional Cardiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Students’ Research Committee, Cell and Molecular Medicine Research Group, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Internal Medicine Department, Rheumatology Division, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Institute of Cancer Research, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Intensive Care Unit, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Department of Pathology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Department of Pathology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran AD - Department of Immunology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Y1 - 2020 PY - 2020 VL - 15 IS - 3 SP - 225 EP - 231 KW - Apoptosis KW - Lymphocyte KW - Systemic Lupus Erythematosus KW - Telomerase DO - 10.30699/ijp.2020.110994.2187 N2 - Background & Objective: It is not clear whether activated lymphocytes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more proliferative or less apoptotic. We aimed to delineate potential differences between B and T cells of SLE patients compared to healthy controls regarding the telomerase activity and apoptosis status. Methods: In this cross-sectional case control study, Blood samples were taken from 10 SLE patients and 10 healthy controls.  B and T cells were separated using magnetic cell sorting system. Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay and real-time PCR were used to determine the telomerase activity and the expression of alternatively spliced variants. Result: Four patients under treatment showed significant telomerase activity in their T cells. Four of the newly diagnosed patients showed telomerase activity in their B cells (20% of all patients and 40% of new onset patients). There was no specific pattern of human telomerase reverse transcriptase variant expression within the patients’ lymphocytes. A significantly reduced expression of Bcl-2 was detected in B cells (P=0.018) and a trend toward lower Bcl-2 expression in T cells was seen in SLE patients compared to healthy controls. Conclusion: Although not definitive, our results may suggest that B cells may have more active roles during the earlier phases of the disease attack, while T cells take over when the disease reaches its chronic stages. UR - https://ijp.iranpath.org/article_39898.html L1 - https://ijp.iranpath.org/article_39898_ff8984e9827db716827764dca460ba1f.pdf ER -