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Multiple abnormalities in immunoregulatory function of synovial compartment T cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Recognition of a helper augmentation effect

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Summary

Analyses of the synovial tissue and fluid T lymphocytes obtained from patients with rheumatoid arthritis revealed multiple functional defects in the regulation of autologous blood B cell differentiation into cells secreting immunoglobulin. These abnormalities were not found in peripheral blood T lymphocytes from the same patients. Although the patients selected showed elevated levels of T cells expressing the T8 differentiation antigen as well as Ia antigens there was little demonstrable suppression of the blood B cell differentiation. Furthermore, the synovial T cells exhibited only minimal helper or inducer activity when tested in the same system. In contrast, patient's blood T lymphocytes gave levels of help and suppression that were not distinguishable from that of normal individuals. Co-culture experiments of blood and synovial T lymphocytes did not reveal any evidence for enhanced suppression; indeed, in most patients these cocultures resulted in marked augmentation of helper function, a phenomenon designated “helper augmentation”. These data provide evidence that rheumatoid synovial lymphocytes are characterized by marked abnormalities in immunoregulatory T cell function, including divergence of cellular activity from the immune function predicted by surface phenotype and a capacity for “helper augmentation”, a novel T cell function in man.

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Author notes

  1. P. L. Romain

    Present address: Division of Tumor Immunology, Sidney Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, 02115, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Erwin S. and Rose F. Wolfson Laboratory of Cellular Mechanisms of Disease, The Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 10003, New York, New York, USA

    P. L. Romain, G. R. Burmester, R. W. Enlow & R. J. Winchester

Authors
  1. P. L. Romain
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  2. G. R. Burmester
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  3. R. W. Enlow
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  4. R. J. Winchester
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Additional information

Postdoctoral Fellow of the Arthritis Foundation.

Postdoctoral Fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Grant Bu 445/1

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Romain, P.L., Burmester, G.R., Enlow, R.W. et al. Multiple abnormalities in immunoregulatory function of synovial compartment T cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatol Int 2, 121–127 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00541164

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00541164

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