Analysis of T-cell clones in systemic lupus erythematosus

Background and Objectives. It Is fairly well established that T-helper (TH) (1) cells play a role in the pathogenesis of organ-specific autoimmune dise ases, while their role and their relationship with TH2 cells is far from be ing defined in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). To address this issue, s ix female patients who fulfilled the American Rheumatism Association criter ia for the diagnosis of SLE were studied. Design and Methods. We analyzed the intracellular production of cytokines b y T-cells from the peripheral brood (PB). Then, we established T-cell clone s (TCC) from the peripheral blood (PB) of all cases as well as from the syn ovial fluid of one patient with an articular Rare-up. Results. The percentages of IL-4 positive and IFN-gamma positive PB T-cells were not different between SLE patients and normal controls. When 93 TCC ( 67 CD4(+), 23 CD8(+)) from the PB of 5 different SLE patients were compared to 118 TCC (94 CD4(+), 23 CD8(+)) from 5 healthy controls no statistical d ifference was observed between SLE and controls In terms of TH1, TH2 or TH0 phenotype. However, SLE clones showed a reduced ability to secrete tl-IO ( p = 0.002). in contrast, the analysis of the 30 clones obtained from synovi al fluid revealed that 11/23 CD4(+) clones were TH1, 12/23 were TH0, 2/7 CD 8(+) clones were TH1 and 5/7 were TH0. no TH2 clones were obtained from the synovial fluid. Interpretation and Conclusions. The data suggest that the T-cell subsets op erating in actively inflamed organs of SLE may belong to the TH1 and TH0 su bsets. sets. (C) 2000, Ferrata Storti Foundation.