PubMed · 14672892
Selective T cell receptor decrease in peripheral blood T lymphocytes of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the phenotype and T cell receptor (TCR) use in peripheral blood T cells in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA). METHODS: Circulating T lymphocyte phenotype and TCR repertoire were studied by flow cytometry using specific monoclonal antibodies in 23 healthy controls and 37 patients with PMR/GCA. RESULTS: Patients with active PMR/GCA showed an inverse relation between naive and memory CD4+ T cells and unchanged expression of activation surface markers compared with controls. CD4+ TCR BV expansions were seen in 12 (52%) controls and in 8 (22%) patients with active disease (p = 0.03). Within the CD8+ subset, the frequency of expansions was similar between groups. Most T cell expansions remained stable over time. Seventeen of the 23 patients with active PMR/GCA disclosed a simultaneous CD4+ and CD8+ T cell depletion for at least one particular BV family with a clear predominance of BV5S2/S3. CONCLUSIONS: The phenotype of circulating T cells in patients with PMR/GCA is similar to that found in aged healthy subjects, except for the surface markers of naive and memory cells and a striking non-activated phenotype. Specific BV expansions in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, which remain stable over time, are frequent in aged subjects, including patients with PMR/GCA. TCR BV changes in patients with active disease seem to be also age related, except for the significant decrease in certain BV families in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets, which may favour the participation of a superantigen stimulation in PMR/GCA.
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M Lopez-Hoyos, M J Bartolome-Pacheco, R Blanco, V Rodriguez-Valverde, V M Martinez-Taboada. 2004. Selective T cell receptor decrease in peripheral blood T lymphocytes of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.. https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.2003.005900
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