Synovial mononuclear cells consist with T cells which produce high levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha.
To determine whether synovial mononuclear cells include a population of tumor necrosis factor alpha-producing T cells, we measured tumor necrosis alpha levels in culture supernatants of synovial mononuclear cells by ELISA and analyzed tumor necrosis alpha mRNA-positive cell frequencies. There were no significant differences in the spontaneous levels of TNF alpha between synovial mononuclear cells and peripheral mononuclear cells. The frequency of tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA-positive cells in synovial mononuclear cells was higher than that of peripheral mononuclear cells. When stimulated with a superantigen, mononuclear cells from the synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis patients showed higher levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha production (1,035 +/- 817 pg/ml) than did mononuclear cells from their peripheral blood (236 +/- 180 pg/ml). In addition, we observed that a few T cell clones were resistant to superantigenic restimulation in vitro. We conclude that when these types of T cells persist in the synovium, they play a role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis via a mechanism involving tumor necrosis factor alpha production.
Akatsuka
H
H
Department of Internal Medicine II, Fukushima Medical College, Hikariga-oka, Japan.
Okubo
M
M
Ishida
H
H
Chiba
K
K
Imanishi
K
K
Uchiyama
T
T
Yamamoto
K
K
Kasukawa
R
R
Nishimaki
T
T
D000818:Animals; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002999:Clone Cells; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear; D051379:Mice; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D018089:Superantigens / Q000276:immunology; D013582:Synovial Fluid / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018089:Superantigens; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha