ObjectiveTo evaluate the roles of imbalance between peripheral blood T helper 17 (Th17) cells and CD4+CD25+ regulatory T(Treg) cells in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD).Methods Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 52 patients with AD aged 2-14 years and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.Flow cytometry was performed to detect the percentage of Th17 cells and Treg cells in peripheral blood.Meanwhile,enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was carried out to detect the serumlevel of interleukin (IL)-6 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1.Results The children with AD showed a higher percentage of Th17 cells but a lower percentage of Treg cells in CD3+ T cells compared with the controls (( 1.20 ± 0.41 )％ vs.(0.54 ± 0.28)％,t =2.58,P ＜ 0.05; (2.29 ± 0.67)％ vs.(5.95 ± 0.45)％,t =15.23,P ＜ 0.01 ).Moreover,the serum level of IL-6 was significantly higher,while that of TGF-β1 was lower in patients with AD than in the controls ((5.12 ± 0.45) ng/L vs.(3.89 ± 0.38) ng/L,t =2.59,P＜ 0.05; (57.65 ± 10.78) ng/L vs. (81.18 ± 7.78) ng/L,t =5.41,P ＜ 0.01 ).ConclusionsChildren with AD experience a change in the percentage of Thl7 cells and Treg cells in peripheral blood as well as in the serum level of IL-6 and TGF-β1,and the imbalance between Th17 cells and Treg cells in peripheral blood may contribute to the development of AD.

Aim To investigate the protective effect of Glucogon like pep tide-1 (GLP-1 )on H9C2 cardio-myocytes against AGEs-induced apoptosis and the po-tential molecular mechanisms.Methods H9 C2 car-diomyocytes cells cultured in vitro were divided into the following groups:normal control group ,1 0 0 mg · L-1 AGEs group,100 mg·L-1 AGEs+10 nmol·L-1 GLP-1 group,100 mg·L-1 AGEs+5 mmol·L-1 N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC)group.Cell viabillity rate was meas-ured by CCK-8 assay,ROS production was measured by DCFH-DA fluorescent probe;Cells in different groups were stained with Annexin V-FITC/PI and then apoptotic rate was detected by flow cytometry;Nucleus morphology was observed under fluorescence micro-scope after being incubated with Honchest 33258;Bax, Bcl-2 mRNA gene expression was measured using RT-PCR;Western blot was applied to assess the apoptotic components expression including Bax and Bcl-2.Re-sult Compared with control group,cell viability rate in AGEs group was decreased in a dose-dependent manner;cell apoptosis and ROS production in H9 C2 cells were remarkably increased in AGEs group.How-ever,compared with AGEs group,GLP-1 reduced ROS production and ameliorated cell apoptosis caused by AGEs;the expression of pro-apototic proteins Bax was decreased,the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins like Bcl-2 was increased. Conclusion GLP-1 protects H9 C2 cardiomyocytes against AGEs-induced apoptosis, which may be related to the reduction of the active oxy-gen (ROS).