[Activated and cytotoxic-suppressive T cells in rheumatoid polyarthritis]

The authors studied the distribution of the sub-classes of T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood in 56 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by a technique of complement dependent lymphotoxicity, using monoclonal antibodies (ABm) which react with surface proteins p29/34 (HLA-DR) and Tp 30 (OKT 8-like). Classically, these ABm recognize the sub-groups of activated T cells (TA = TDR+) and cytotoxic/suppressive T cells (T c/s) respectively. In this study, normal levels of TDR+ and T c/s were found in 32% and 25% of patients respectively. However, the distribution of the values shows that 48% of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis have an increased level of TA/DR+, while 51 to 67% of patients with RA have reduced levels of T c/s, depending on which ABm was used, which suggests a heterogeneity in the T c/s sub-population. In this series, it seems that the two phenomena are preferentially associated in the small group of patients with early onset RA, while in patients with late onset RA, there is an isolated rise in the TA. These observations need to be confirmed before we can attribute an aetio-pathogenic role to the co-existence of these disorders. However, when the percentage of T c/s is greater than that of the TA, the RA has a longer clinical course than in the reverse case, which suggests the possibility of secondary immunological adaptation to the disease or an influence of treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)