Clonal analysis of T cell infiltrates in synovial tissue of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
To investigate the possibility of the presence of disease-relevant, antigen-specific immune reactions in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), clonal diversity of the T cells in the synovial tissue was examined. T cells were directly cloned by in vitro stimulation with phytohemagglutin and interleukin 2 from both the peripheral blood and inflammatory synovial tissue. Their clonotypes were defined by analyzing rearrangement patterns of T cell receptor (TCR) beta and gamma chain genes using Southern blotting. In total, 111 clones from the synovial tissue (four patients) and 45 from the peripheral blood (one patient) were studied. Although most of the clones were unique in their TCR gene rearrangement patterns, 2 clones from the synovial tissue of one patient had identical patterns. These 2 clones were CD3+, 4-, 8+. Since phenotypic analysis of 82 clones from the synovial tissues revealed that CD8+ T cell clones were less frequent (24%) than CD4+ clones, the clonal identity observed here in 2 clones may not be negligible. Furthermore, 1 CD8+ clone from the peripheral blood of the same patient also had the same clonotype. These results may suggest selective trafficking or proliferation of CD4-, CD8+ T cells in RA synovial tissue.
Hakoda
M
M
Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Japan.
Ishimoto
T
T
Yamamoto
K
K
Inoue
K
K
Kamatani
N
N
Miyasaka
N
N
Nishioka
K
K
D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000276:immunology*; D015551:Autoimmunity; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000166:cytology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell