Objetivo: Avaliar a freqüência das células T reguladoras (Tregs) em crianças com diagnóstico novo de Púrpura Trombocitopênica Imune (PTI) e a sua associação com a contagem de plaquetas na ocasião, comparando os achados com os de controles saudáveis. Pacientes e Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo caso-controle, no qual foram incluídos 19 pacientes com diagnóstico novo de PTI e 19 controles. Para cada um dos casos, foram coletadas quatro amostras de sangue em períodos distintos, sendo eles ao diagnóstico – antes da instituição de qualquer terapêutica – e após um, três e seis meses do mesmo. Para os controles, utilizou-se amostra de sangue de 19 pacientes saudáveis, coletadas eletivamente. Em todas as amostras de sangue foi realizada contagem de plaquetas através de hemograma e avaliação dos linfócitos Tregs (CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3) por citometria de fluxo. Resultados: A idade média ao diagnóstico de PTI foi de 6,53 ± 4,14 anos. Dos 17 pacientes tratados, 13 receberam apenas corticosteróide oral e quatro pacientes receberam corticosteróide e imunoglobulina endovenosa associada em algum momento do tratamento. Em relação à evolução da doença, 14 crianças apresentaram remissão completa, duas remissão e três PTI crônica. Houve diferença estatisticamente significativa no número de plaquetas entre os grupos caso e controle nas amostras 1 e 4. Não houve diferença significativa na contagem de Tregs entre os casos e os controles em nenhum momento de coleta. Não foi encontrada correlação estatisticamente significativa entre Tregs e o número de plaquetas entre os casos e os controles, nem nos pacientes do grupo caso ou do grupo controle analisados separadamente. Não houve diferença na contagem de células Tregs entre os grupos de pacientes crônicos e não crônicos. Conclusão: Os achados deste estudo não nos permitiu evidenciar correlação estatisticamente significativa entre Tregs e o número de plaquetas nos grupos caso e controle. As células T CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3 (Tregs) parecem não desempenhar um papel crucial na regulação da auto-imunidade em pacientes pediátricos com diagnóstico de PTI, provavelmente, devido à existência de outros mecanismos responsáveis pela auto-imunidade em crianças, ainda não identificados. / Objective: To assess the frequency of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in children with a new diagnosis of Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), and its association with the counts of platelets on the occasion, and compare with healthy controls. Patients and Methods: A case-control study was conducted, in which 19 patients with new diagnosis of ITP and 19 controls were included. For each case, four blood samples were collected at different point times, that is, at the diagnosis – before the establishment of any treatment – and after one, three and six months. For the controls, electively collected blood samples from 19 healthy patients were used. For all blood samples, platelets were counted through a CBC and assessment of Treg lymphocytes (CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3) by flow cytometry. Results: The mean age at the ITP diagnosis was 6.53 ± 4.14 years. Of 17 treated patients, 13 received oral corticosteroid only, and four patients received corticosteroid and associated intravenous human immunoglobulin at some point in the treatment. Regarding the disease course, 14 children showed full remission, two partial remission, and three chronic ITP. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of platelets between the case and control groups in the samples 1 and 4. There was no significant difference in the counts of Tregs between cases and controls at any collection time. No statistically significant correlation was found between Tregs and number of platelets between cases and controls, neither in patients in the case group nor in the control group who were analyzed separately. There was no difference in the counts of Treg cells between the groups of chronic and non-chronic patients. Conclusion: The findings of this study did not show any statistically significant correlation between Tregs and number of platelets in the case and control groups. The T cells CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3 (Tregs) seems did not play a key role in the regulation of self-immunity in pediatric patients diagnosed with ITP. Other mechanisms, which aren’t still identified, are likely to account for self-immunity in children.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is an aggressive hematologic tumor and is the most common malignancy in children (Horton and Steuber 2014). This disease is characterized by the infiltration of bone marrow by malignant immature lymphoid progenitor cells and is invariably fatal without treatment. Although multi-agent combination chemotherapy is curative in a significant fraction of ALL patients, treatment currently fails in approximately 20% of children and up to 50% of adults with ALL, making relapse and drug resistance the most substantial challenge in the treatment of this disease(Fielding, Richards et al. 2007, Aster and DeAngelo 2013). Understanding what causes treatment failure is of great medical importance as second line therapies also fail in the majority of relapse T-cell ALL (TALL) patients (Fielding, Richards et al. 2007, Aster and DeAngelo 2013). Using next-generation sequencing to compare the genomes of tumors before and after therapy, mutations in gene cytosolic 5’-nucleotidase II (NT5C2) were discovered in 19% of pediatric samples with relapsed T-ALL(Tzoneva, Carpenter et al. 2013). Preliminary structure function analysis and subsequent in vitro experimental nucleotidase activity assays confirmed that these mutations lead to hyperactive NT5C2 protein. Furthermore, NT5C2 mutant proteins conferred resistance to 6-mercaptopurine and 6-thioguanine chemotherapy drugs when expressed in ALL lymphoblasts, suggesting NT5C2 is responsible for the inactivation of nucleoside-analog chemotherapy drugs. In order to assess the ability of these mutations to lead to novel inhibitor schemes, the functional impact of each mutation was analyzed through robust structure function methods. The result of this in silico analysis, is the identification of a potential allosteric regulatory mechanism of negative feedback inhibition never before described. Most notably, the majority of NT5C2 mutations identified have characteristics that suggest they abrogate the function of this proposed mechanism, yielding a novel viable target for the development of allosteric inhibitors specific for constitutively active NT5C2 mutant proteins. Overall these findings support a prominent role for activating mutations in NT5C2 and chemotherapy resistance in ALL, and highlight new avenues for relapsed ALL therapy development in the future.