Increased proto-oncogene expression in peripheral blood T lymphocytes from patients with systemic sclerosis

✍ Scribed by Alice Kahan; Jacqueline Gerfaux; André Kahan; Anne-Marie Joret; Charles J. Menkès; Bernard Amor

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 665 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/anr.1780320412

✦ Synopsis

The expression of c-myc, c-myb, and eras protooncogenes, determined using RNA hybridization techniques (slot-blot), was significantly increased in peripheral blood T lymphocytes, but not in B cells, from 17 patients with systemic sclerosis with diffuse scleroderma, compared with the expression in normal control subjects. The magnitude of expression of c-myc and c-myb tended to be higher in patients with early, active disease. These results demonstrate an in vivo activation of T cells from systemic sclerosis patients, which may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

The etiology and pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc; scleroderma) have not been well elucidated. The disease is characterized by vascular and microvascular abnormalities (1,2), excessive fibroblastic activity (3), and collagen deposition in numerous organs (4), which might be induced by immunologic defects. A wide range of immunologic abnormalities have been described in association with SSc, including decreased numbers of circulating T lymphocytes (3, decreased