The protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor 22 gene (PTPN22) is an important negative regulator of signal transduction through the T-cell receptors (TCR). Recently a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 1858 C/T within this gene was shown to be a risk factor for several autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Graves' Disease (GD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D). The aim of this study was to analyze a possible association between 1858 C/T SNP and a number of autoimmune diseases, including RA, GD and T1D in Russian population. Patients with T1D, GD, RA and healthy controls were genotyped for the 1858 C/T SNP in PTPN22 gene. We found a significant association between PTPN22 1858 C/T SNP and T1D and GD. 1858T/T genotype was observed more frequently in T1D and GD patients compared to control subjects. No such association was observed for RA. In concordance with a previous data establishing PTPN22 1858 C/T SNP association with several autoimmune diseases, our findings provide further evidence that the PTPN22 gene may play an important role in the susceptibility to some autoimmune diseases.

We studied the expression of some CC chemokines and their receptors in the synovium of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthrosis, and a history of joint injury. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the levels mRNA for some angiogenic and proinflammatory chemokines (CCL5/RANTES, CCL11/eotaxin, CCL24/eotaxin-2, and CCL26/eotaxin-3) and their receptors (CCR1, CCR2, CCR3, CCR4, and CCR5) was elevated. mRNA expression correlated with activity, stage, and serological status of rheumatoid arthritis. Obtained data confirm the importance of CC chemokines as mediators of angiogenesis and inflammation in the synovium in rheumatoid arthritis.

Chemokines are a special family of cytokines whose main function is to control cell migration; they are key players in the innate and adaptive immune responses. Directed chemotaxis of specific leukocyte subpopulations is necessary not only to maintain homeostasis, but also in development of some immunopathological conditions such as cancer, inflammation, infection, allergies and autoimmune disorders. Chemokines are pleiotropic molecules that are involved in physiological and pathophysiological processes. For example, the CXCR3 chemokine receptor is expressed on various cells: activated T and B lymphocytes, natural killers, eosinophils and neutrophils, dendritic cells, fibroblasts, endothelial and epithelial cells. Hence, CXCR3 and its ligands have a wide range of functional activity. CXCR3 ligands are the IFNγ-induced chemokines: CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, and platelet-derived chemokines: CXCL4, CXCL4L1. All the CXCR3 ligands share common angiostatic properties due to lack of the Glu-Leu-Arg (ELR) motif. IFNγ-induced ligands of the CXCR3 are proinflammatory chemokines, they mainly recruit activated T cells and exert an effect on T cell polarization. Due to wide spectrum of biological activity, the ligands of CXCR3 receptor are involved in pathogenesis of various disorders, such as inflammation, infection, cancer, allergies and autoimmune disorders. In this review, we discuss the role of CXCR3 ligands in immunopathogenesis of various diseases, including the results of our studies in chronic hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis and pulmonary tuberculosis. Moreover, we have also discussed the potential laboratory diagnostic applicability of the chemokines in various diseases. This review illustrates a universal role of IFNγ-induced chemokines as mediators of immune responses in various diseases. The studies of CXCR3 ligands, their isoforms and receptors, interactions between themselves and with their receptors can provide a significant contribution to our understanding of the chemokine network. Understanding the system of IFNγ-dependent chemokines may have clinical implications, both for diagnostic tasks, and for therapeutic purposes.

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Chemokines are generally believed to play an important role in immunopathogenesis of different joint diseases. Synovial fluid is the primary bio-material, along with peripheral blood, for evaluation of patients with joint pathology (rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, etc). However, analysis of synovial membranes is also of importance, since the main pathologic processes evolve at this site. Analysis of chemokines and their receptors in synovium may provide more complete information about immunopathogenesis of articular disease of different etiologies. We carried out optimization procedures for real-time reverse-transcription PCR analysis, in order to quantify specific mRNA expression of angiogenic and angiostatic chemokines and their receptors in synovium. All the stages, from sampling the biological material and until analysis of results are described in details. Normal ranges for mRNA expression rates are provided, as based on examination of subjects with previous traumatic joint injury, without any clinical signs of current systemic or local inflammation. We demonstrate that this method can be informative for comparing intra-articular expression of chemokines and their receptors between different clinical groups. It can also be used to investigate the role of chemokines in appropriate immunopathological events.