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Diminished Expression of CD59 on Activated CD8 + T Cells Undergoing Apoptosis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Sjögren's Syndrome
Author(s) -
Tsunoda,
Kawano,
Koni,
Kasahara,
Yachie,
Miyawaki,
Seki
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3083.2000.00674.x
Subject(s) - cd8 , cytotoxic t cell , immunology , antigen , apoptosis , lupus erythematosus , in vitro , biology , medicine , antibody , biochemistry
The present study was undertaken to examine the phenotype of T cells undergoing in vitro apoptosis in patients with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS). Compared with normal controls, we found diminished expression of CD59 antigen (one of the cell‐surface complement‐regulatory proteins) on CD8 + T cells, but not on CD4 + T cells, from patients with SLE and SS. Three‐colour immunofluorescence analysis revealed that these CD59 dim CD8 + T cells were activated T cells, expressing both human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐DR and CD45RO antigens. In addition, these CD59 dim CD8 + T cells were more susceptible to in vitro apoptosis than CD59 bright CD8 + T cells. In two patients with active lupus, the percentage of CD59 dim CD8 + T cells was significantly decreased after steroid therapy. These findings suggest that decreased expression of CD59 antigen on in vivo ‐activated CD8 + T cells may be correlated with disease activity and may be involved in activation‐induced apoptosis in patients with SLE and SS.