title: T cell clones in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
abstract: The development of T cell clones has greatly enhanced our knowledge of pathogenetic mechanisms in autoimmune diseases. Thus, it has been possible to induce experimental arthritis in susceptible animals by solely injecting arthritogenic T cell lines or clones. In contrast to many animal models, in rheumatoid arthritis the inciting antigen(s) have still not been identified. However, it has been possible to raise T cell clones from the inflammatory membrane by the addition of Interleukin-2 and/or mitogens. These clones are primarilig of the CD4+ (helper/inducer) phenotype. Molecular analyses on T cell receptor genes have not clearly shown a predominant rearrangement pattern in most studies indicating a polyclonal origin of RA synovial T cells. The availability of T cell clones will clearly help in the near future to probe for the inducing antigen(s) in inflammatory rheumatic diseases thus rendering a basis for new immunotherapeutic approaches.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Erlangen Medical School, University of Nürnberg-Erlangen, FRG.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hain
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Burmester
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kalden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001168:Arthritis / Q000473:pathology; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000473:pathology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002999:Clone Cells; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D006801:Humans; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology