title: Clonotypic analysis of T cells accumulating at arthritic lesions in HTLV-I env-pX transgenic rats.
abstract: Human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) env-pX transgenic rats (env-pX rats) develop chronic destructive arthritis resembling rheumatoid arthritis in humans. Immunological characteristics were compared with those of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Rheumatoid factor was present in some env-pX rats regardless of the development of arthritis, but not in nontransgenic rats with CIA. All rats with CIA produced anti-type II collagen (IIC) antibody, but never so in env-pX rats with naturally occurring arthritis. Although expansions of oligoclonal T cells were evident in the affected joints, no particular clone was shown to infiltrate into the arthritic lesions in env-pX rats. In contrast to CIA, in which clonal expansions of IIC-specific T cells are implicated, locally expanded T cell clones against various antigens of the joints may play pathogenetic roles in the arthritis seen in env-pX rats. However, complementarity-determining region 3 of the TCR Vbeta gene of T cells accumulating at the affected joints in env-pX rats contained the GGA amino acid sequence, which was reported to be a conserved motif in HTLV-I env-pX transgenic mice with arthritis. These findings suggest that common antigen(s) might be recognized by T cells accumulating at sites of arthritis in both transgenic rats and mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology/Pathophysiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugaya
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishizu
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamaru
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fugo
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Hidetoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Kohzoh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshiki
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001169:Arthritis, Experimental / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000276:immunology*; D024043:Collagen Type II / Q000276:immunology; D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015752:Genes, env; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D024043:Collagen Type II; D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta