Defective TCR-mediated signaling in synovial T cells in rheumatoid arthritis

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the functional status of T cells is incompletely understood. Synovial T cells display phenotypic evidence of former activation, but there is poor production of T cell-derived cytokines in the synovium. In addition, synovial T cell proliferation upon mitogenic and antigenic stimulation was decreased compared with that in peripheral blood T cells. Moreover, previous reports revealed that early Ca2+ rises induced by TCR/CD3 stimulation were decreased in RA T cells compared with those in healthy controls. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of RA synovial T cell hyporesponsiveness, we analyzed the TCR/CD3-mediated protein tyrosine phosphorylation in RA peripheral blood and synovial fluid (SF) T cells. SF T cells exhibited a decreased overall tyrosine phosphorylation pattern upon stimulation. Most notably, the induction of phosphorylation of p38 was virtually absent. Moreover, we found that tyrosine phosphorylation of the TCR zeta-chain, one of the most proximal events in TCR signaling, is clearly diminished in RA SF T cells. The decrease in tyrosine phosphorylation was accompanied by a decrease in detectable levels of zeta-protein within synovial T cells. These results suggest that a defective TCR signaling underlies the hyporesponsiveness of synovial T cells in RA.