Characterization of collagen-specific T cells derived from pathogenic and nonpathogenic rat T cell lines

Rat/mouse T-T hybridomas have been developed from an arthritogenic and a nonarthritogenic T cell line. These hybridomas express alpha beta TCR and are CD4+, CD8-, and MRC OX-22-. They have type II collagen reactivity as assessed by an IL-2 release assay. Southern blot analysis of DNA extracted from these hybridomas demonstrates that each T cell line contains at least three different collagen-reactive clones. The data suggest that the spectrum of TCR beta gene rearrangements is limited, as one hybridoma from the nonpathogenic line shares an identically sized productive TCR beta gene rearrangement with two hybridomas from the pathogenic line. Both cell lines as well as one hybridoma from the pathogenic line are autoreactive to rat type II collagen. The anti-collagen responses of all the hybridomas are restricted to the rat class II MHC RT1.B gene loci. The hybridomas, like their parental cell lines, do not respond preferentially to either native or denatured type II collagen. These hybridomas recognize a specific type II collagen epitope and not repetitive collagen-like sequence motifs. They require antigen processing to respond to both native and denatured type II collagen.