Objective     To investigate Treg/Th17 cell dysfunction and their effects on expression of vascular calcification factor BMP-2 in uremia patients with dialysis.     Methods     Sixty-six uremia patients with dialysis (MHD group)

30 uremia patients neither treated by dialysis nor complicated with cardiovascular events (WHD group) and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Patients of the MHD group were divided into two subgroups according to patients with (MHD1 group

n=36) or without (MHD2 group

n=30) cardiovascular events. Proportion of Treg and Th17 cells in mononuclear cells were measured by flow cytometry. Expression of ROR-γt and Foxp3 mRNA were measured by real-time PCR. Levels of IL-17

IL-10 and BMP-2 in supernatants of mononuclear cells were detected by ELISA.     Results     Uremia patients exhibited a dysfunction of Treg/Th17 and BMP-2 as compared with healthy controls

including a higher Treg/Th17 ratio

higher expression of Foxp3 and ROR-γt and higher concentrations of IL-17 and BMP-2. In contrast

IL-10 was significantly lower in the uremia patients (P0.05) than in the healthy controls. These dysfunctions also exhibited when comparison was performed between the WHD group and MHD group

and between the MHD1 group and MHD2 group

respectively. Concentrations of IL-17 and BMP-2 were negatively correlated with Treg cell proportion

but positively correlated with Th17 cell proportion; BMP-2 concentration was positively correlated with IL-17 concentration

but negatively correlated with IL-10 concentration.     Conclusion     Dysfunction of Treg/Th17 cells in uremia patients with dialysis can induce abnormal secretion of microinflammatory cytokines and aggravation of vascular calcification

leading to accelerated atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.