Selection of T cells reactive against autologous B lymphoblastoid cells during chronic rheumatoid arthritis

The repertoire and Ag specificity of T cells infiltrating inflamed joints from a chronic rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient were studied in detail. Repertoire analysis demonstrated a reduced clonality of joint-infiltrating lymphocytes (JIL) as compared with patient's PBL, which was presumably due to an intra-articular expansion of T cell clones with recurrent TCR features. Strikingly, a large fraction of these JIL T cell clones, which were predominantly CD8+, proliferated in vitro when exposed to autologous B lymphoblastoid cells (BLC), unlike randomly chosen PBL clones derived from the same patient. This proliferative response was HLA-restricted, which confirmed a classical TCR-mediated recognition of BLC and was not observed against autologous PHA blasts, suggesting recognition of either EBV or B cell-specific Ags. Finally, a preliminary analysis of synovial lymphocytes derived from another chronic RA patient demonstrated a similar enrichment for T cells reactive against autologous BLC within JILs as compared with patient's PBLs. Taken together, these results, which suggest frequent expansions of autologous BLC-reactive T cells within inflamed joints of chronic RA patients, provide a basis for future studies evaluating the fine specificity and pathogenicity of these lymphocytes.