Salmonella-reactive synovial fluid T-cell clones in a patient with post-infectious Salmonella arthritis

From a patient with reactive arthritis following Salmonella typhimurium enteritis, synovial fluid T-lymphocytes were cloned and expanded in vitro. Seven out of 74 clones showed a marked proliferative response to antigens of heat-killed Salmonella typhimurium with autologous T-cell-depleted peripheral blood mononuclear cells as antigen-presenting cells. The Salmonella-reactive clones were of the CD4+ phenotype, antigen-induced proliferation could be inhibited by a monoclonal antibody to HLA class II. One clone recognized both Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni antigens in the proliferation assay. The multiclonality of Salmonella-reactive synovial fluid T-cells indicates that the microorganisms have been present, at least transiently, within the affected joint and thus recruited specific T-lymphocytes that might initiate synovitis.