title: Rituximab treatment overcomes reduction of regulatory iNKT cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are a subset of T cells that recognize glycolipid antigens presented by the CD1d molecule. Accumulating evidences showed that iNKT cells are implicated in the regulatory mechanisms that control autoimmunity. We evaluated the number of circulating iNKT cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by flow cytometry and performed a longitudinal analysis of iNKT cell frequency in RA patients who were given an anti-CD20 therapy. Significantly lower iNKT cell numbers were measured in the blood from RA patients compared to healthy individuals (p<0.0001) and low iNKT cell frequencies were rather associated with an active disease. In RA patients who received rituximab treatment, iNKT cell number was increased in relation to the clinical outcome. We demonstrated that the number of iNKT cells is altered in RA patients and that following rituximab therapy, clinical remission of RA is associated with an increase of iNKT cell frequency.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parietti
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chifflot
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sibilia
authors.forename: Sylviane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monneaux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055611:Natural Killer T-Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D000069283:Rituximab; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D000069283:Rituximab