Increased percentage of HLA-DR T cells in untreated juvenile dermatomyositis.

This study investigates HLA-DR expression on activated T cells and serum neopterin levels in Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM) children pre- and post-treatment. Sixty-nine JDM children (less than 18 years) were included. Elevated HLA-DR+ T cells (>7 %) were observed in 19 % of untreated cases. Post-treatment, mean HLA-DR+ T cells decreased from 5.1 to 2.9 ( P < 0.001), and serum neopterin levels declined from 19.3 to 9.1 nmol/L ( P < 0.0001). A positive correlation between serum neopterin and HLA-DR T cell percentage was observed ( r = 0.39, P = 0.01). Intravenous steroid treatment exhibited a 47.4 % improvement in HLA-DR+ T cells and a 50.5 % reduction in serum neopterin levels, in contrast to 14.8 % and 34.1 % in the oral steroid group. In conclusion, treatment, particularly with IV steroids, significantly improved HLA-DR+ T cells percentage and neopterin levels. A correlation between HLA-DR+ T cells percentage and serum neopterin was noted in untreated JDM patients.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.