Recognition of rheumatoid arthritis synovial antigen by CD4+,CD8− T cell clones established from rheumatoid arthritis joints

✍ Scribed by Tomoko Toyosaki; Yuji Tsuruta; Takeshi Yoshioka; Hiroshi Takemoto; Ryuji Suzuki; Tetsuya Tomita; Takahiro Ochi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 865 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(199801)41:1<92::aid-art12>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

Objective. To investigate the rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-specific autoantigen(s) recognized by CD4+ T cells in patients with RA. Methods. CD4+,CD45RO+ T cell clones were established from the joints of RA patients, and were examined for their proliferative response to synovial cells. Results. Eight of 146 T cell clones responded to RA synovial cells in a DR-restricted manner. These T cell clones recognized solubilized antigens extracted from RA synovial cells in the presence of DR-matched antigenpresenting cells, but did not respond to those extracted from non-RA synovial cells. The antigens had a molecular weight of 50/25 kd. Five of the 8 T cell clones used T cell receptor BV6, and the remaining clones used BV12.2.

Conclusion. The antigens recognized by jointinfiltrating CD4+ T cells are present exclusively in RA synovial cells. The expression of these antigens by synovial cells may trigger the autoreactivity of T cells in RA joints.

RA is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease characterized by destructive polyarthritis (1). Although the etiology of RA remains unknown, there is evidence of a critical role of T cells in its pathogenesis. The majority of the T cells in RA joints express CD4 and