Skip to main content
PMC home page
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1995 Apr;54(4):314–317. doi: 10.1136/ard.54.4.314

CD4 T cells in the rheumatoid joint are oligoclonally activated and change during the course of disease.

H A Khazaei 1, C Lunardi 1, A K So 1
PMCID: PMC1005581  PMID: 7763112

Abstract

OBJECTIVE--To assess the nature of T cell receptor (TCR) utilisation by CD4 T cells in the rheumatoid joint. METHODS--Sequencing of the joining (NDJ) region of TCR beta chain mRNA isolated from synovial fluid CD4 T cells was performed in three patients in order to determine if oligoclonal expansion of particular sequences was present. Two patients were studied longitudinally to determine if these sequences changed over time. RESULTS--A number of dominant clonotypes were found within the TCR transcripts sequenced in each patient. In the two patients who were studied longitudinally, different dominant clonotypes were detected over time. No single clonotype was persistently dominant during the period of study. CONCLUSIONS--The pattern of TCR usage showed multiple oligoclonally expanded CD4 T cells within the rheumatoid joint. The change in clonotypes within the joint over time suggests that different antigens may be able to elicit synovial inflammation during the course of rheumatoid disease.

Full text

PDF
314

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arnett F. C., Edworthy S. M., Bloch D. A., McShane D. J., Fries J. F., Cooper N. S., Healey L. A., Kaplan S. R., Liang M. H., Luthra H. S. The American Rheumatism Association 1987 revised criteria for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1988 Mar;31(3):315–324. doi: 10.1002/art.1780310302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Burmester G. R., Yu D. T., Irani A. M., Kunkel H. G., Winchester R. J. Ia+ T cells in synovial fluid and tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1981 Nov;24(11):1370–1376. doi: 10.1002/art.1780241106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Davis M. M., Bjorkman P. J. T-cell antigen receptor genes and T-cell recognition. Nature. 1988 Aug 4;334(6181):395–402. doi: 10.1038/334395a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Grom A. A., Thompson S. D., Luyrink L., Passo M., Choi E., Glass D. N. Dominant T-cell-receptor beta chain variable region V beta 14+ clones in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Dec 1;90(23):11104–11108. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.23.11104. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Howell M. D., Diveley J. P., Lundeen K. A., Esty A., Winters S. T., Carlo D. J., Brostoff S. W. Limited T-cell receptor beta-chain heterogeneity among interleukin 2 receptor-positive synovial T cells suggests a role for superantigen in rheumatoid arthritis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Dec 1;88(23):10921–10925. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.23.10921. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Jorgensen J. L., Esser U., Fazekas de St Groth B., Reay P. A., Davis M. M. Mapping T-cell receptor-peptide contacts by variant peptide immunization of single-chain transgenics. Nature. 1992 Jan 16;355(6357):224–230. doi: 10.1038/355224a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lunardi C., Marguerie C., So A. K. An altered repertoire of T cell receptor V gene expression by rheumatoid synovial fluid T lymphocytes. Clin Exp Immunol. 1992 Dec;90(3):440–446. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1992.tb05865.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Marguerie C., Lunardi C., So A. PCR-based analysis of the TCR repertoire in human autoimmune diseases. Immunol Today. 1992 Sep;13(9):336–338. doi: 10.1016/0167-5699(92)90166-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Nepom G. T., Hansen J. A., Nepom B. S. The molecular basis for HLA class II associations with rheumatoid arthritis. J Clin Immunol. 1987 Jan;7(1):1–7. doi: 10.1007/BF00915418. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Paliard X., West S. G., Lafferty J. A., Clements J. R., Kappler J. W., Marrack P., Kotzin B. L. Evidence for the effects of a superantigen in rheumatoid arthritis. Science. 1991 Jul 19;253(5017):325–329. doi: 10.1126/science.1857971. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Uematsu Y., Wege H., Straus A., Ott M., Bannwarth W., Lanchbury J., Panayi G., Steinmetz M. The T-cell-receptor repertoire in the synovial fluid of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis is polyclonal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Oct 1;88(19):8534–8538. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.19.8534. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Zamvil S. S., Mitchell D. J., Lee N. E., Moore A. C., Waldor M. K., Sakai K., Rothbard J. B., McDevitt H. O., Steinman L., Acha-Orbea H. Predominant expression of a T cell receptor V beta gene subfamily in autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J Exp Med. 1988 May 1;167(5):1586–1596. doi: 10.1084/jem.167.5.1586. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES