| Presentation preference | Oral presentation |
| Title | Lymphocyte subsets and immune check point receptors after interferon alpha: preliminary findings |
| Accept poster if oral is not possible ? | Yes |
| Purpose | To evaluate the influence of interferon-alpha treatment on the lymphocyte subsets and immune checkpoint receptor expression levels. |
| Methods | Four patients on interferon alpha-2a (3MU per day until remission, 3MU every 2nd day after remission) were included. Blood samples were taken before and at the 1st month of treatment. Lymphocyte subsets and immune checkpoint receptors (PD-1, CTLA-4, TIGIT, LAG-3, Tim-3) were analyzed by flow cytometry. |
| Results | Four patients were included (3 Behçet’s, 1 Eales; mean age:27.5±9.3 years, 2 male, 2 female). The ratio of CD4 cells (44.4±9.6 vs. 44.2±7.5), CD8 cells (30.7±4.2 vs. 34.5±4.8), CD19 B cells (8.7±1.4 vs. 8.8±4.6), CD3-CD16+CD56+ NK cells (10.4±6.6 vs. 9.3±5.1) and CD3+CD16+CD56+ NKT cells (5.7±3.8 vs. 3.2±0.6) remained at similar levels. But the ratio of Treg cells increased significantly after treatment (5.3±2.8 vs. 14.1±4.3, 0=0.04). There was a trend towards an increased expression of some checkpoint receptors in certain subsets, such as CTLA-4 in CD4+ T cells, PD-1 and Lag-3 in CD8+ T cells. |
| Conclusion | These results confirmed previous report on Tregs with interferon alpha-2a. The expression of certain checkpoint receptors tended to change in specific subsets. Further work with a larger sample size will better explain these treatment-associated findings. |
| Conflict of interest | No |
Author 1
| Last name | ESEN |
| Initials of first name(s) | F |
| Department | IMU School of Medicine, Ophthalmology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
Author 2
| Last name | TURKYILMAZ |
| Initials of first name(s) | O |
| Department | IMU School of Medicine, Ophthalmology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
Author 3
| Last name | AYKUT |
| Initials of first name(s) | V |
| Department | IMU School of Medicine, Ophthalmology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
Author 4
| Last name | DENIZ |
| Initials of first name(s) | G |
| Department | IU Aziz Sancar DETAE, Immunology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
Author 5
| Last name | OGUZ |
| Initials of first name(s) | H |
| Department | IMU School of Medicine, Ophthalmology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
Author 6
| Last name | DIRESKENELI |
| Initials of first name(s) | H |
| Department | Marmara Univ. SOM, Rheumatology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
Author 7
| Last name | AKTAS CETIN |
| Initials of first name(s) | E |
| Department | IU Aziz Sancar DETAE, Immunology |
| City | Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
