Limited TCR V beta usage of infiltrating T cells in synovial tissues from patients with HTLV-I associated arthropathy.
Human T cell lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) is the etiologic agent of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma and recently has also been suggested to be involved in chronic arthritis. The synovia of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) contains activated T lymphocytes, with a restricted expression of T cell receptor (TCR) variable (V) beta gene segments. To characterize the T-cell populations of RA among HTLV-I carriers and noncarriers, we performed the immunohistochemical staining of CD4 and CDB, as well as a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to estimate the proportion of TCR beta RNA containing any particular V elements on the synovial specimens. In all but one HTLV-I carrier, the proviral DNA and/or RNA expression of HTLV-I was detected in the synovium. The CD4-positive cells proliferated markedly in the HTLV-I carriers compared with the noncarriers. In contrast to mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood, synovial T cells expressed only a few V beta transcripts, and no definite difference was observed between the carriers and the noncarriers. These results suggest that a common major antigen associated with the pathogenesis of RA may thus selectively interact with the V beta component of the TCR. Using RT-PCR, we studied the expression of the recombination-activating gene-1 (RAG-1), which was used in the V(D)J recombination of immunoglobulin and TCR genes. In all cases, RAG-1 was transcripted. The results supported the possibility that the extrathymic development of the selected TCR V beta T cells occurred in the synovia.
Ohshima
K
K
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Japan.
Kondo
S
S
Yoshida
T
T
Kikuchi
M
M
Shibata
T
T
Sumiyoshi
Y
Y
Takeshita
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D016370:Gene Products, rex; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000473:pathology*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
D016370:Gene Products, rex; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; C064658:RAG-1 protein