Peripheral blood T cell expansions in patients with Behcet's disease.
Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic multisystemic inflammatory disorder characterized mainly by recurrent oral and genital aphthous ulcerations and uveitis. Etiology and pathogenesis of BD remain unknown. T cell receptor (TCR) V alpha/V beta gene product expression as well as Jbeta gene segment expression in peripheral blood of BD patients were analysed to investigate the possible role of T lymphocytes in the etiopathogenesis of BD. Flow cytometry with 12 TCR V-specific MoAbs was used for TCRV analyses. Jbeta gene segment usage by T cell populations expressing certain V betas was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with V beta- and C beta-specific primers, Southern blotting of PCR products, and subsequent hybridization with radiolabelled Jbeta gene segment-specific probes. Although 13 of the 23 BD patients exhibited increases in expression of one or more TCR V-gene products, only expansions among the CD4+ T cell subset were significantly more frequent in BD patients (7/23) compared with healthy controls (0/15) (P = 0.019). Six out of eight cases followed for up to 20 months had at least one expansion correlated with disease activity. A strict preference for particular Jbeta gene segments implicating clonality was apparent in all analysed T cell expansions and correlated well with disease activity. These results suggest a possible involvement of antigen-specific T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of BD.
Esin
S
S
Microbiology and Tumourbiology Centre, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Gül
A
A
Hodara
V
V
Jeddi-Tehrani
M
M
Dilsen
N
N
Koniçe
M
M
Andersson
R
R
Wigzell
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000276:immunology; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta