Objective Rheumatoid arthritis is thought to be a T cell mediated disease, based on its strong association with HLA class II alleles, clinical responsiveness to T cell directed therapies and the presence of CD4 T cells in rheumatoid joints. The presence of ACPA in RA serum and the association of these antibodies with HLA-DR4 alleles implicates citrullinated specific autoreactive T cells in the development and progression of RA. The goal of this study was to determine the character and specificity of auto-reactive T cell responses in RA. Methods We developed a panel of HLA-DRB1*04:01 tetramers, selecting citrullinated peptides from synovial antigens and verifying their immunogenicity in DRB1*04:01 transgenic mice. Seven tetramers were used to examine the ex vivo frequency and surface phenotype of cit-specific T cells in RA and healthy subjects with DRB1*04:01 haplotypes using a magnetic enrichment procedure. Results Cit-specific T cells were detectable in peripheral blood samples from both healthy subjects and RA patients. In comparison to healthy subjects, RA patients had significantly higher frequencies of cit-specific T cells and a greater proportion of these cells displayed a Th1 memory phenotype. Among RA subjects the frequency of cit-specific T cells was highest within the first 5 years after diagnosis of RA and was decreased in patients taking biologic therapies irrespective of disease duration. Conclusion These findings link the presence of ACPA in RA with Th1 cells specific to citrullinated epitopes and provide tools for disease-specific immunomonitoring of autoreactive T cells.

Objective Antibodies towards the citrullinated form of the synovial antigen vimentin are specific for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and associated with HLADRB1*0401. This suggests that T cells specific for peptides derived from citrullinated-vimentin presented in the context of HLA-DRB1*0401 may contribute to the etiopathogenesis of RA. Here, we aimed to identify immunodominant epitopes from citrullinated-vimentin presented by HLADRB1*0401 and characterize the resulting T cell responses. Methods We first predicted an HLA-binding T cell epitope from citrullinated vimentin based on the binding motif of DRB1*0401, and then confirmed its affinity. An MHC class-II tetramer loaded with cit-vim59-78 was constructed and used to screen for specific T cells in DRB1*0401 transgenic mice, RA patients and healthy controls. Additionally, the cytokine output following cit-vim59-78 challenge was analyzed in patients and healthy subjects by multicolor flow cytometry and luminex-based analysis. Results The citrullinated form of vim59-78 bound to HLA-DRB1*0401 while the native version could not. Subsequently, cit-vim59-78-specific T cells were detected in immunized mice and in the periphery of both HLA-DR*0401 healthy controls and RA subjects, using MHC class-II tetramers, CD154 upregulation and intracellular cytokine measurements. Cell culture supernatants demonstrated an enhanced production of cytokines, most prominent of which was IFNγ from RA-derived cells in response to cit-vim59-78 in comparison to healthy controls. Conclusions Here, we describe a posttranslational modification of an RA candidate autoantigen towards which DRB1*0401-restricted, T cells can be found in both RA patients and healthy controls, but for which a proinflammatory response is uniquely found among subjects with RA.

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T cell responses to Ags involve recognition of selected peptide epitopes contained within the antigenic protein. In this report, we describe a new approach for direct identification of CD4+ T cell epitopes of complex Ags that uses human class II tetramers to identify reactive cells. With a panel of 60 overlapping peptides covering the entire sequence of the VP16 protein, a major Ag for HSV-2, we generated a panel of class II MHC tetramers loaded with peptide pools that were used to stain peripheral lymphocytes of an HSV-2 infected individual. With this approach, we identified four new DRA1*0101/DRB1*0401- and two DRA1*0101/DRB1*0404-restricted, VP16-specific epitopes. By using tetramers to sort individual cells, we easily obtained a large number of clones specific to these epitopes. Although DRA1*0101/DRB1*0401 and DRA1*0101/DRB1*0404 are structurally very similar, nonoverlapping VP16 epitopes were identified, illustrating high selectivity of individual allele polymorphisms within common MHC variants. This rapid approach to detecting CD4+ T cell epitopes from complex Ags can be applied to any known Ag that gives a T cell response.

A new Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm is proposed for simulating inextensible circular chains with finite twisting and bending rigidity. This new algorithm samples the relevant Riemann volume elements in a uniform manner, when the constraining potential vanishes. Simulations are performed for filaments comprising 170 subunits, each containing approximately 28 bp, which corresponds to a DNA length of 4770 bp. The bending rigidity is chosen to yield a persistence length, P = 500 A, and the intersubunit potential is taken to be a hard-cylinder potential with diameter d = 50 A. This value of d yields the same second virial coefficient as the electrostatic potential obtained by numerical solution of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation for 150 mM salt. Simulations are performed for unknotted circles and also for trefoil knotted circles using two different values of the torsional rigidity, C = (2.0 and 3.0) x 10(-19) dyne cm2. In the case of unknotted circles, the simulated supercoiling free energy varies practically quadratically with linking difference delta l. The simulated twist energy parameter ET, its slope dET/dT, and the mean reduced writhe /delta l for C = 3 x 10(-19) dyne cm2 all agree well with recent simulations for unknotted circles using the polygon-folding algorithm with identical P, d, and C. The simulated ET vs. delta l data for C = 2.0 x 10(-19) dyne cm2 agree rather well with recent experimental data for p30 delta DNA (4752 bp), for which the torsional rigidity, C = 2.07 x 10(-19) dyne cm2, was independently measured. The experimental data for p30 delta are enormously more likely to have arisen from C = 2.0 x 10(-19) than from C = 3.0 x 10(-19) dyne cm2. Serious problems with the reported experimental assessments of ET for pBR322 and their comparison with simulated data are noted. In the case of a trefoil knotted DNA, the simulated value, (ET)tre, exceeds that of the unknotted DNA, (ET)unk, by approximately equal to 1.40-fold at magnitude of delta l = 1.0, but declines to a plateau about 1.09-fold larger than (ET)unk when magnitude of delta l > or = 15. Although the predicted ratio, (ET)tre/(ET)unk approximately equal to 1.40, agrees fairly well with recent experimental measurements on a 5600-bp DNA, the individual measured ET values, like some of those reported for pBR322, are so large that they cannot be simulated using P = 500 A, d = 50 A, and any previous experimental estimate of C.

We describe a role for ECM as a biosensor for inflammatory microenvironments that plays a critical role in peripheral immune tolerance. We show that hyaluronan (HA) promotes induction of Foxp3-IL-10-producing regulatory T cells (TR1) from conventional T-cell precursors in both murine and human systems. This is, to our knowledge, the first description of an ECM component inducing regulatory T cells. Intact HA, characteristic of healing tissues, promotes induction of TR1 capable of abrogating disease in an IL-10-dependent mouse colitis model whereas fragmentary HA, typical of inflamed tissues, does not, indicating a decisive role for tissue integrity in this system. The TR1 precursor cells in this system are, suggesting that effector memory cells assume a regulatory phenotype when they encounter their cognate antigen in the context of intact HA. Matrix integrity cues might thereby play a central role in maintaining peripheral tolerance. This TR1 induction is mediated by CD44 cross-linking and signaling through p38 and ERK1/2. This induction is suppressed, also in a CD44-dependent manner, by osteopontin, a component of chronically inflamed ECM, indicating that CD44 signaling serves as a nexus for fate decisions regarding TR1 induction. Finally, we demonstrate that TR1 induction signals can be recapitulated using synthetic matrices. These results reveal important roles for the matrix microenvironment in immune regulation and suggest unique strategies for immunomodulation.

No abstract

Ag-specific CD4+ T cells are present in peripheral blood in low frequency, where they undergo recruitment and expansion during immune responses and in the pathogenesis of numerous autoimmune diseases. MHC tetramers, which constitute a labeled MHC-peptide ligand suitable for binding to the Ag-specific receptor on T cells, provide a novel approach for the detection and characterization of such rare cells. In this study, we utilized this technology to identify HLA DQ-restricted Ag-specific T cells in the peripheral blood of human subjects and to identify immunodominant epitopes associated with viral infection. Peptides representing potential epitope regions of the VP16 protein from HSV-2 were loaded onto recombinant DQ0602 molecules to generate a panel of Ag-specific DQ0602 tetramers. VP16 Ag-specific DQ-restricted T cells were identified and expanded from the peripheral blood of HSV-2-infected individuals, representing two predominant epitope specificities. Although the VP16 369–380 peptide has a lower binding affinity for DQ0602 molecules than the VP16 33–52 peptide, T cells that recognized the VP16 369–380 peptide occurred at a much higher frequency than those that were specific for the VP16 33–52 peptide.