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Synovial Mononuclear Cells Consist with T Cells Which Produce High Levels of Tumor Necrosis Factor α
Author(s) -
Akatsuka Hidenobu,
Okubo Mitsuo,
Ishida Hironori,
Chiba Katsumi,
Imanishi Kenichi,
Uchiyama Takehiko,
Yamamoto Kazuhiko,
Kasukawa Reiji,
Nishimaki Tomoe
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1997.tb01214.x
Subject(s) - peripheral blood mononuclear cell , tumor necrosis factor alpha , synovial membrane , necrosis , immunology , biology , synovial fluid , cytokine , medicine , pathology , rheumatoid arthritis , in vitro , osteoarthritis , biochemistry , alternative medicine
To determine whether synovial mononuclear cells include a population of tumor necrosis factor α‐produeing T cells, we measured tumor necrosis α levels in culture supernatants of synovial mononuclear cells by ELISA and analyzed tumor necrosis α mRNA‐positive cell frequencies. There were no significant differences in the spontaneous levels of TNF α between synovial mononuclear cells and peripheral mononuclear cells. The frequency of tumor necrosis factor α mRNA‐positive cells in synovial mononuclear cells was higher than that of peripheral mononuclear cells. When stimulated with a superantigen, mononuclear cells from the synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis patients showed higher levels of tumor necrosis factor α production (1,035 ± 817 pg/ml) than did mononuclear cells from their peripheral blood (236 ± 180 pg/ml). In addition, we observed that a few T cell clones were resistant to superantigenic restimulation in vitro . We conclude that when these types of T cells persist in the synovium, they play a role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis via a mechanism involving tumor necrosis factor α production.