Analyzes of accumulating T cell clonotypes in different joint lesions of rheumatoid arthritis

我们建立了一种利用T细胞受体β链转录物的逆转录-聚合酶链反应和单链构象多态性（SSCP）相结合来分析T细胞克隆的新方法。然后，我们在治疗性滑膜切除术中获得患者的滑膜样本进行T细胞克隆分析。对这些样本的分析表明，滑膜液样本和滑膜组织样本含有更明显的T细胞克隆积累。提示RA病变中存在抗原特异性T细胞反应。然后，我们比较了同一关节内不同区域的T细胞克隆。结果发现，在关节的一个部位发现的积累的T细胞克隆中，有60 - 95%也存在于同一关节的另一个部位。代表性条带的DNA测序也证实了这一发现。因此，RA病变的免疫反应将指向有限的共同抗原。不同关节病变中T细胞克隆的同一性也观察到高频率，表明致病性免疫反应在RA患者的多个关节中是常见的。

we have established a novel method to analyze T cell clonality using a combination of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of T cell receptor beta chain transcripts and single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). We then obtained synovial samples from patients during a therapeutic synovectomy for a T cell clonality analysis. An analysis of these samples revealed that synovial fluid samples and synovial tissue samples contained even more distinct accumulations of T cell clones. This indicates that there are antigen specific T cell reactions in the lesion of RA.We then compared the T cell clonalities in the different areas within the same joint. It was found that 60 to 95% of the accumulating T cell clones identifiedin one part of a joint also existed in another part of the same joint. The DNA sequencing of representative bands also confirmed this finding. Therefoer, the immunereactions of the RA lesions would be directed to limited common anrigens. Theidentities of the T cell clonalities in the lesions from different joints were also obseved at high frequencies, suggesting that pathogenicimmunereactions are commonamong the multiple joints of a RA patient.