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Published on: October 27, 2023
Mucosal-associated invariant T cells in patients with axial spondyloarthritis
Rienk Gerben van der Meer1, Anneke Spoorenberg1, Elisabeth Brouwer1
1Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Background:
Several studies implicate Th17-cells and its cytokine (IL-17) in disease pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis (SpA), with available evidence supporting a pathogenic role of CD8+ T-cells. However, data on the involvement of CD8+ mucosal-associated invariant T-cells (MAIT) and their phenotypic characterization and inflammatory function including IL-17 and Granzyme A production in a homogenous population of SpA-patients with primarily axial disease (axSpA) are lacking.
Objectives:
Quantify and characterize the phenotype and function of circulating CD8+MAIT-cells in axSpA-patients with primarily axial disease.
Methods:
Blood samples were obtained from 41 axSpA-patients and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Numbers and percentages of MAIT-cells (defined as CD3+CD8+CD161highTCRVα7.2 +) were determined, and production of IL-17 and Granzyme A (GrzA) by MAIT-cells were examined by flow cytometry upon in vitro stimulation. Serum IgG specific for CMV was measured by ELISA.
Results:
No significant differences in numbers and percentages of circulating MAIT-cells were found between axSpA-patients and HCr zijn meer resultaten de centrale memory CD8 T cellen. cellen van patirculating MAIT cells.. Further phenotypic analysis revealed a significant decrease in numbers of central memory MAIT-cells of axSpA-patients compared to HC. The decrease in central memory MAIT-cells in axSpA patients was not attributed to an alteration in CD8 T-cell numbers, but correlated inversely with serum CMV-IgG titers. Production of IL-17 by MAIT-cells was comparable between axSpA-patients and HC, whereas a significant decrease in the production of GrzA by MAIT-cells from axSpA-patients was observed.
Conclusions:
The decrease in cytotoxic capability of circulating MAIT-cells in axSpA-patients might implicate that these cell types migrate to the inflamed tissue and therefore associate with the axial disease pathogenesis.
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