Expression of T-cell Immunoglobulin- and Mucin-domain-containing Molecule-3 on Lymphocytes from Henoch-Schoenlein Purpura Patients

Objective: to investigate t-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain-containing molecule-3 (tim-3) and its ligand galectin-9 mrna expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) from henoch- schoenlein purpura (hsp) patients. methods: quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (pcr) was used to examine the mrna expression of tim-3 and its ligand galectin-9 in pbmcs from hsp patients. elisa methods were used to examine the levels of serum ifn-γ and immunoglobulin a1 (iga1). the spearman rank test was used for correlation analysis between tim-3, galectin-9 mrna expression and serum ifn-γ and iga1 levels, respectively. findings: the results showed that tim-3 and galectin-9 mrna expression was obviously higher in patients, which was closely correlated with serum ifn-γ and iga1, respectively. conclusion: the results suggested that tim-3/tim-3l may be related to the pathogenesis of hsp.