Deranged bioenergetics and defective redox capacity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Deranged bioenergetics and defective redox capacity in T lymphocytes and neutrophils are related to cellular dysfunction and increased oxidative stress in patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus.

Clin Dev Immunol. 2012;2012:548516

Authors: Li KJ, Wu CH, Hsieh SC, Lu MC, Tsai CY, Yu CL

How do you get lupus

Abstract
Urinary excretion of N-benzoyl-glycyl-Nε-(hexanonyl)lysine, a biomarker of oxidative stress, was higher in 26 patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) than in 11 non-SLE patients with connective tissue diseases and in 14 healthy volunteers. We hypothesized that increased oxidative stress in active SLE might be attributable to deranged bioenergetics, defective reduction-oxidation (redox) capacity, or other factors. We demonstrated that, compared to normal cells, T lymphocytes (T) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) of active SLE showed defective expression of facilitative glucose transporters GLUT-3 and GLUT-6, which led to increased intracellular basal lactate and decreased ATP production. In addition, the redox capacity, including intracellular GSH levels and the enzyme activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and γ-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT), was decreased in SLE-T. Compared to normal cells, SLE-PMN showed decreased intracellular GSH levels, and GGT enzyme activity was found in SLE-PMN and enhanced expression of CD53, a coprecipitating molecule for GGT. We conclude that deranged cellular bioenergetics and defective redox capacity in T and PMN are responsible for cellular immune dysfunction and are related to increased oxidative stress in active SLE patients.

PMID: 22007252 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]