Specificity of T cells in synovial fluid high frequencies of CD8+ T cells that are specific for certain viral epitopes 英文参考文献.docVIP

/content/2/2/154 Primary research Specificity of T cells in synovial fluid: high frequencies of CD8+ T cells that are specific for certain viral epitopes Linda C Tan, Alastair G Mowat*, Chrysoula Fazou, Tim Rostron, Helen Roskell*, P Rod Dunbar, Claire Tournay?, Fran?ois Romagné?, Marie-Alix Peyrat?, Elisabeth Houssaint?, Marc Bonneville?, Alan B Rickinson§, Andrew J McMichael and Margaret FC Callan John Radcliffe Hospital and *Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford, UK, ?Immunotech SA, Marseilles and ?INSERM U643 Institute Biologie, Nantes, France, and §University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK Received: 1 October 1999 Arthritis Res 2000,2:154–164 Revisions requested: 27 October 1999 Revisions received: 10 November 1999 Accepted: 27 October 1999 The electronic version of this article can be found online at /content/2/2/154 Published: 7 February 2000 ? Current Science Ltd Statement of findings CD8+ T cells dominate the lymphocyte population in synovial fluid in chronic inflammatory arthritis. It is known that these CD8+ T cells are often clonally or oligoclonally expanded, but their specificity and their relevance to the pathogenesis of joint disease has remained unclear. We found that as many as 15.5% of synovial CD8+ T cells may be specific for a single epitope from an Epstein–Barr virus lytic cycle protein. The virus-specific T cells within the joint showed increased expression of markers of activation and differentiation compared with those in the periphery, and retained their functional capacity to secrete proinflammatory cytokines on stimulation. These activated, virus-specific CD8+ T cells could therefore interact with synoviocytes, either by cell–cell contact or by a cytokine network, and play a ‘bystander’ role in the maintenance of inflammation in patients with arthritis. Keywords: CD8+ T cell, Epstein–Barr virus lytic cycle, human leucocyte antigen peptide tetrameric complex, rheumatoid arthritis, viral immunity Abstra