Abnormal surface markers expression on bone marrow CD34+ cells and correlation with disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Defects of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have been suggested to contribute to the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this study was to investigate the phenotypic characteristics of bone marrow (BM) CD34(+) cells in patients with SLE and its relationship with SLE disease activity. Ten SLE patients and 10 healthy subjects were recruited and their BM CD34(+) cells were analyzed by flow cytometric analysis with CD45/SSC gating for the expression of CD90, CD95, CD117, CD123, CD164, CD166, FAS-L, and HLA-DR. The percentage of BM CD34(+) cells was significantly decreased in active SLE patients (1.48 +/- 0.41%, n=7) compared to the healthy controls (2.31 +/- 0.75%, n=10, p < 0.01), but no significant difference was found between the inactive patients (2.04 +/- 0.44%, n=3) and the controls. The expression of CD95, CD123, and CD166 on BM CD34(+) cells were significantly increased in SLE patients (48.31 +/- 10.59%, 44.9 +/- 21.5%, 30.9 +/- 19.54%, respectively, n=10) when compared with the control subjects (24.33 +/- 11.1%, 19.5 +/- 4.4%, 10.7 +/- 5.5%, respectively, n=10, p < 0.05). The increased CD123 expression was negatively correlated with the number of peripheral white blood cells (r=-0.700, p < 0.05, n=10). The percentage of CD166 expression was found significantly correlated with the index of SLE disease activity (r=0.472, p < 0.05, n=10) and 24 h proteinuria (r=0.558, p < 0.05, n=10), but negatively correlated with serum C3 level (r=-0.712, p < 0.01, n=10). Our study found that the surface marker expression of CD95, CD123, and CD166 on BM CD34(+) cells were significantly increased in patients. This supports the hypothesis that there are abnormalities of the HSC in SLE. Since CD166 and CD123 correlated with the overall lupus activity, their role as a biomarker of inflammatory disease activity also requires further study.