title: Expansion of gammadelta T-cells in Behçet's disease: role of disease activity and microbial flora in oral ulcers.
abstract: Gammadelta T-cells participate in the immune response to infections and in autoimmunity by recognizing bacteria-derived and autologous antigens. The goal of this study was to evaluate the involvement of gammadelta T-cells in Behçet's disease (BD). Gammadelta T-cells in the peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of Israeli patients with definite BD (n = 23), normal controls (n = 16), and patients with familial Mediterrranean fever (FMF; n = 20) were evaluated by means of flow cytometry. The responses of patient and control gammadelta T-cells to medium conditioned by microorganisms cultured from an oral ulcer of a patient with active BD were compared. The proportions of CD3(+) and CD8(+) cells in the PBMCs were not significantly different between groups. In contrast, gammadelta-T-cells accounted for 7.01% +/- 4.42% of the PBMCs in BD compared with 3.56% +/- 3.45% in FMF (P < .005) and 3.7% +/- 3.15% in normal individuals (P < .009). Their numbers were significantly higher during active disease than in remission (9.45% +/- 5.08% versus 2.27% +/- 3.3%; P < .009). The number of T-cell-receptor gammadelta(+) and Vdelta2(+) cells of BD patients, but not of controls, increased after 96 hours of culture in medium containing supernatant of microorganisms cultured from an oral ulcer in a patient with BD relative to their proportions in control medium: 58.2% vs 13.9% (P < .05) and 28% vs 9% (P < .04), respectively, of the cultured T-cells (n = 4).gammadelta T-cells are expanded in BD PBMCs during active disease. An exaggerated proliferative response to products released by microorganisms present in oral ulcers may play a role in this phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Hashomer, Israel. ibank@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bank
authors.forename: Mordechai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duvdevani
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Livneh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000032:analysis; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019226:Oral Ulcer / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D017252:CD3 Complex; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta