1. Cellular immunity to cartilage aggrecan core protein in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and non-arthritic controls.
- Author
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Goodstone NJ, Doran MC, Hobbs RN, Butler RC, Dixey JJ, and Ashton BA
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aggrecans, Amino Acid Sequence, Cartilage, Articular immunology, Case-Control Studies, Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel, Female, Glycosylation, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Immunoblotting, Lectins, C-Type, Male, Middle Aged, Molecular Sequence Data, Proteoglycans chemistry, Arthritis, Rheumatoid immunology, Autoantigens immunology, Autoimmune Diseases immunology, Extracellular Matrix Proteins, Proteoglycans immunology, T-Lymphocytes immunology
- Abstract
Objective: To identify antigen(s) among purified deglycosylated aggrecan peptides spanning the chondroitin sulphate domain that may be responsible for the initiation or perpetuation of the autoimmune responses in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)., Methods: Aggrecan was purified from human articular cartilage and deglycosylated with either bacterial glycosidases or trifluoromethanesulphonic acid (TFMS). Twelve overlapping peptides (15 residues) spanning the chondroitin sulphate domain with N-terminal residues offset by three amino acids were synthesised. T cell responses to these antigens in RA patients and age matched controls were assessed in vitro by antigen specific T cell proliferation assays., Results: Enzymically deglycosylated aggrecan (EDA) stimulated proliferation of T cells isolated from the peripheral blood in a greater proportion of patients with RA than controls. In a subset (12.5%) of RA patients, the magnitude of stimulation lay outside the control range. T cell proliferative responses to TFMS treated aggrecan were greater than, but well correlated with, responses to EDA. T cells from 15 patients were also stimulated with the pooled synthetic peptides. Four of seven patients who demonstrated T cell reactivity to EDA (seven of 15) also showed enhanced T cell proliferation to synthetic peptides., Conclusion: These data suggest that an autoantigenic T cell epitope may lie within the chondroitin sulphate domain of aggrecan.
- Published
- 1996
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