title: Phenotypes of T lymphocytes from peripheral blood and synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Evidence in favour of normal helper and suppressor functions of T lymphocytes from patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Lymphocytes from peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) from 21 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 18 patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) were studied with respect to T cell phenotypes using monoclonal antibodies in a rosette assay. The percentage of HLA-DR positive T cells was counted in PB and SF using indirect immunofluorescence. Suppressor cell activity of T cells from PB and SF was investigated by measuring the immunoglobulin production by pokeweed mitogen (PWM) stimulated B cells mixed with T cells at various ratios. The mean T4/T8 ratio was significantly lower in SF than in PB of both RA and JRA patients (p = 0.0062 and p less than 0.0001 respectively). The mean percentages of HLA-DR positive T cells were elevated in SF compared with PB in both patients groups (p less than 0.03 and p less than 0.04 in RA and JRA patients respectively). Mean suppressor cell activity and helper cell activity of T cells from SF and PB of JRA patients was normal. Thus there seems to be a dichotomy between the number of T8+ cells and suppressor cell function in mononuclear cells from SF of patients with JRA. This indicates that a considerable proportion of the T8+ cells in the SF do not have suppressor functions.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000097:blood*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D013582:Synovial Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006684:HLA-DR Antigens