Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting joints. Proteomics is a new field of studying the protein and its dynamic axiom of transmutation in cells. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics are the three major technology. Recently,the research in rheumatoid arthritis proteomics has made great progress. Application of proteomics technology is designed to study the pathogenesis from the proteins levels,finding out the marker proteins in order to improue RA diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

Objective To investigate the Th17 cell expression in peripheral blood of childron with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and explore the role of Th17 cells and the cytokines in the pathogenesis of SLE. Methods Twenty-five children with SLE were enrolled and 15 healthy children were controls. Flow cytometry (FCM) was employed to detect the expression of Th17 cells in peripheral blood of SLE children (SLE group, n=25), and IL-17, IL-21 levels in plasma were detected by ELISA. Two-independent sample t-test and Spearmen's test were used for correlation analysis. Results Compared with that of the control, the frequencies of CD3+CD8-IL-17+T[(1.24±0.64)% vs (0.59±0.21)%], CD3+CD8-IL-21+T cells[(1.5±0.6)%vs (0.8±0.4)% ] increased significantly in SLE patients (P＜0.01) and the plasma concentrations of IL-17, IL-21 were significantly higher (P＜0.01). The SLE activity was positively correlated with the frequencies of CD3+CD8-IL-17+T cells, but not with CD3+CD8-IL-21+T cells. Conclusion Th17 cells and the related cytokinesplay an important role in the pathogenesis of childhood SLE.