The study of T cell clones of synovial fluids of reactive arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the cytokine expression profile of 3 CD8+, 3 CD4+ and 3 gamma delta-positive T cell clones derived from the synovial fluids of reactive arthritis (ReA) patients and to explore the immunological pathogenesis of ReA. Methods Complementary DNA-based microarrays containing genes for 56 cytokines were used for screening the expression profile of 3 CD8+, 3 CD4+ and 3 gamma delta-positive T cell clones derived from the synovial fluids of 3 reactive arthritis (ReA) patients. Results Transcripts encoding for interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha were expressed among all CD8+ and CD4+ T cell clones by microarray. Expression of these cytokines could be verified by RT-PCR in 14 out of 15 microarray experiments. Lymphotoxin (LT)-alpha and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were also consistently expressed among CD4+ cells. However, ??+T cells revealed a different cytokine pattern, mainly expressing transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 2 and GM-CSF. Conclusion CD8+ and CD4+ T cells mainly reveale a Th1-mediated profile, whereas ??+T cells expresse less pro-inflammatory cytokines resembling a Th3-driven pattern. T lymphocyte clones from the joint of ReA patients exhibit different cytokine expression profiles refelecting their different roles in pathogenesis.