Specific T-cell receptor beta-rearrangements of gluten-triggered CD8+ T-cells are enriched in celiac disease patients' duodenal mucosa.

Celiac disease (CeD) is an autoimmune disorder affecting the small intestine with gluten as disease trigger. Infections including Influenza A, increase the CeD risk. While gluten-specific CD4+ T-cells, recognizing HLA-DQ2/DQ8 presented gluten-peptides, initiate and sustain the celiac immune response, CD8+ α/ß intraepithelial T-cells elicit mucosal damage. Here, we subjected TCRs from a cohort of 56 CeD patients and 22 controls to an analysis employing 749 published CeD-related TCRß-rearrangements derived from gluten-specific CD4+ T-cells and gluten-triggered peripheral blood CD8+ T-cells. We show, that in addition to TCRs from gluten-specific CD4+ T-cells, TCRs of gluten-triggered CD8+ T-cells are significantly enriched in CeD duodenal tissue samples. TCRß-rearrangements of gluten-triggered CD8+ T-cells were even more expanded in patients than TCRs from gluten-specific CD4+ T-cells (p < 0.0002) and highest in refractory CeD. Sequence alignments with TCR-antigen databases suggest that a subgroup of these most likely indirectly gluten-triggered TCRs recognize microbial, viral, and autoantigens.

[Fructosamine as a parameter for monitoring carbohydrate metabolism in the treatment of diabetes mellitus]. / Fructosamin als Parameter des Kohlenhydratstoffwechsel-Monitoring in der Therapie des Diabetes mellitus.

Fructosamine, protein, albumin and HbA1c from 199 diabetics were followed for up to 220 days. An increase in average blood glucose during the preceding 10 days causes an increase in fructosamine by 50 mumol/l. During the day there is little variation in the fructosamine concentration, whereas relating fructosamine to protein or albumin results in substantial fluctuations. A possible cause is the necessity for two measurements which is associated with an increased error. Long term observations reveal a significant correlation between fructosamine and HbA1c which is little affected by relating fructosamine to protein or albumin. Diabetics exhibited significantly lower protein and albumin concentrations than the normal collective, yet the standard deviations from the individual means were only 7 and 7.9%, respectively.