SPECIFIC CLONAL T-CELL ACCUMULATION IN INTESTINAL LESIONS OF CROHNS-DISEASE

The initial cellular events that take place at the outset of autoimmun e diseases and that may be the most important in terms of understandin g their pathogenesis are poorly understood, especially in humans. This is mainly due to the difficulties in the identification of primary le sions and the accessibility to such material. In this respect, it is n oteworthy that the appearance of small reddish erosions, known as apht hoid lesions, is known to be an early event in Crohn's disease. In the present study, accumulation of lesion-specific clonal TCR bands in th e intestinal lesions of Crohn's disease patients was demonstrated by m eans of a highly sensitive method based on single strand conformationa l polymorphism. Such clonal accumulation was demonstrated in both apht hoid and discrete ulcer lesions. There were several TCR BV bands that were present in both aphthoid lesions and discrete ulcer lesions, but some were specific to the aphthoid lesions. In addition, the same apht hoid lesion-specific/dominant T cell clones were found to be expanded in separate aphthoid lesions of a single patient, and were absent from intervening, non-inflamed mucosa. Some of these bands may represent T cell clones activated primarily at the onset of disease.