Deviations in Peripheral Blood Cell Populations are Associated with the Stage of Primary Biliary Cholangitis and Presence of Itching

To evaluate the role of Th17, Treg cells, activated T CD3(+) and B CD19(+) lymphocytes in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) patients. 40 female patients with PBC and 20 healthy donors were enrolled in this study. The percentages and absolute counts of Th17, Treg, activated T CD3(+), B CD19(+), NK, NKT-like lymphocytes were measured by flow cytometry. Our research revealed significantly lower frequencies and absolute counts of CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+) Treg cells (p<0.0001), higher percentages and absolute counts of Th17 cells (IL-17A(+)CD3(+)CD4(+); p<0.0001 and p=0.009, respectively), CD3(-)/CD16(+)CD56(+) NK cells (p<0.0001 and p=0.039, respectively), CD3(+)/CD16(+)CD56(+) NKT-like cells (p<0.0001 and p=0.048, respectively). There were also higher percentages and numbers of B CD19(+) lymphocytes (p=0.002 and p=0.001, respectively) and higher percentages and absolute counts of activated B CD19(+)CD25(+) cells (p=0.007 and p=0.002, respectively). Moreover, we observed a statistically significant correlation between the presence of itching and particular peripheral blood subpopulations in PBC patients. Absolute counts of both CD4(+)CD3(+) cells (p=0.0119) and CD3(+)CD25(+) cells (p=0.0329) were lower in patients with pruritus. A similar dependency was noted in reference to percentages of NKT-like cells (CD3(+)/CD16(+)CD56(+); p=0.0359) and (CD3(+)) T lymphocytes (p=0.0302). Th17 and Treg cells are involved in the course of PBC. There is also the association between the pruritus and peripheral blood subpopulations.