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T-cell responses to versican in ankylosing spondylitis

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Abstract

The objective of our study was to undertake a systematic analysis of the T-cell response to the proteoglycan versican G1-globular domain (VG1) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) as immunity to VG1 in mice can induce a pathology closely resembling AS. Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 36 AS patients and 33 healthy controls were incubated with recombinant human VG1 in culture for 6 h. T-cell responses were assessed by FACS analyses using mAb against surface expression of the activation marker CD69 and against the intracellular cytokines interferon (IFN)-gamma, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. T cells activated by exposure to versican were determined by assessing the percentage of CD4+ or CD8+ T cells that were CD69/cytokine double-positive cells as compared to isotype control staining. In the AS patients, exposure to VG1 resulted in increased expression by CD4+ T cells of IFN-gamma in 55.6% of patients and of TNF-alpha in 52.8% of patients. In the controls, only 36.4% of subjects demonstrated an IFN-gamma response and 36.4% demonstrated a TNF-alpha response (P value 0.148, 0.227, respectively). With respect to CD8+ T-cell responses, versican stimulation enhanced IFN-gamma expression in 44.4% of AS patients and 39.4% of controls, and enhanced TNF-alpha response in 50.0% of AS patients and 39.4% of controls (P value 0.620, 0.327, respectively). Although, there was no statistically significant difference in the magnitude of the IFN-γ or TNF secretion by CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells between AS and controls, our results demonstrate an enhanced T-cell response to VG1 in AS.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Grant of the Korea Healthcare Technology R&D Project, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, Republic of Korea (A080376).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology, Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital, Gwangju, South Korea

    Tae-Jong Kim

  2. Department of Rheumatology, The Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 17 Haengdang-Dong, Sungdong-Gu, Seoul, 133-792, Korea

    Tae-Hwan Kim, Hyun-Joo Lee & Bitnara Lee

  3. Joint Diseases Laboratory, Shriners Hospitals for Children, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    A. Robin Poole

  4. Department of Rheumatology, Toronto Western Hospital, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Robert D. Inman

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  1. Tae-Jong Kim
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  2. Tae-Hwan Kim
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Correspondence to Tae-Hwan Kim.

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Kim, TJ., Kim, TH., Lee, HJ. et al. T-cell responses to versican in ankylosing spondylitis. Rheumatol Int 31, 191–195 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-009-1248-1

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