title: T lymphocyte abnormalities in juvenile systemic sclerosis patients.
abstract: Multi-center evaluations of pediatric patients with juvenile systemic sclerosis (jSSc) have suggested that the pathogenesis of jSSc may differ from that of systemic sclerosis (SSc) in adult patients. Therefore, we undertook to identify abnormalities in the T lymphocytes of jSSc patients and to determine if they differed from the abnormalities reported in the T lymphocytes of adult SSc patients. We identified decreases in the frequency of resting regulatory T lymphocytes and an increased frequency of CD45RA expressing effector memory (EMRA) CD4 T lymphocytes, which were characterized by an increased frequency of CCR7 protein expressing cells. Neither the increases in the EMRA subpopulation nor the increased CCR7 protein expression have been reported in adult SSc patients. The decrease in resting regulatory T lymphocytes in jSSc patients may permit the expansion of the disease initiating CD4 T lymphocytes present in the CCR7 expressing EMRA CD4 T lymphocyte subpopulation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd., Mail Stop 60, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, USA. Electronic address: areiff@chla.usc.edu.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reiff
authors.forename: Kenneth I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Weinberg
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Triche
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Masinsin
authors.forename: Kris M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Mahadeo
authors.forename: Chuan-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Robertson
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parkman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D054400:Receptors, CCR7 / Q000235:genetics; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C515370:CCR7 protein, human; D054400:Receptors, CCR7
keywords: Autoreactive T lymphocytes; CCR7;; Juvenile systemic sclerosis;; Regulatory T lymphocytes;