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Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI118550

Identification of clonally expanded T cells in rheumatoid arthritis using a sequence enrichment nuclease assay.

R González-Quintial, R Baccalá, R M Pope, and A N Theofilopoulos

Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.

Find articles by González-Quintial, R. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.

Find articles by Baccalá, R. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.

Find articles by Pope, R. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.

Find articles by Theofilopoulos, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published March 1, 1996 - More info

Published in Volume 97, Issue 5 on March 1, 1996
J Clin Invest. 1996;97(5):1335–1343. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI118550.
© 1996 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published March 1, 1996 - Version history
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Abstract

Identification of expanded clones engaged in immune and autoimmune responses is still imperfect, since they are often diluted by irrelevant cells expressing diverse specificities. To efficiently characterize T cell receptors expressed by clonally expanded lymphocytes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other inflammatory conditions, we developed an assay system, termed sequence enrichment nuclease assay (SENA). Key elements of SENA are the efficiency of heat-denatured DNA strand reassociation, which increases exponentially with concentration, and the elimination of unhybridized sequences by single-strand-specific DNase. T cell clonal expansions were identified primarily in synovial fluids, but also in peripheral blood of RA patients. Synovial fluids had more prominent expansions in the CD8 than the CD4 subset, whereas clonal expansions in the CD4 subset predominated among peripheral blood lymphocytes. Dominant clones exhibited diverse sequences with no clear conservation of junctional motifs, although the same amino acid sequence was identified in two patients. In most instances, dominant clones in the blood were discordant to those in the corresponding synovial fluid, suggesting local stimulation or preferential sequestration of T cells displaying particular specifities.

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  • Version 1 (March 1, 1996): No description

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