Changes of peripheral blood monocytes function in elderly patients with nonthyroid illness syndrome

WU Jun; QIAN Yun-feng; XU Wei-guo; CHEN Rui; XIAO Fei; SUN Jie; XIONG Ri-cheng; YU Zhou; GUO Zhen-hui

Abstract：Objective To investigate the changes of peripheral blood monocytes ( PBMCs) function in elderly pa-tients with nonthyroid illness syndrome(NTIS).Methods Hospitalized elderly patients who were ruled out of primary thyroid diseases and secondary thyroid diseases were divided into 4 groups, Group A, 40 elderly patients with euthyroid-ism;Group B, 33 elderly patients with NTIS;Group C, 36 elderly patients with NTIS and systemic inflammatory response syndrome( SIRS);and Group D, 54 elderly patients with NTIS and sepsis based on clinical characteristics, laboratory data and the level of level of serum thyroid hormone.Human leukocyte antigen-DR( HLA-DR) of PBMCs were detected by flow cytometry.PBMCs were isolated for allogeneic T lymphocyte proliferation and further detection by methyl thiazolyl tet-razolium ( MTT) colorimetry.After stimulation of PBMCs with LPS, the levels of PBMC-secreted cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10, were measured with ELISA.Results Expression of HLA-DR in PBMCs, proliferation of allogeneic T cells stimulated by PBMCs, and the levels of PBMC-secreted TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 were not signifi-cantly different between Groups A and B (P>0.05).Compared with Group B, HLA-DR, the proliferation of allogeneic T cells , and the levels of PBMC-secreted cytokines were significantly reduced in Groups C and D (P<0.05).No sta-tistically significant differences were detected between Group C and Group D.Conclusion Reduced level of thyroid hor-mone does not cause alteration of PBMC functions.NTIS patients caused by SIRS or sepsis undergoes PBMC dysfunction.