Identification of Clonal T Cells in the Blood of Patients With Systemic Sclerosis

Clonal T Cells in the Blood of Patients With Systemic Sclerosis

“…5 Our study also demonstrated a marked frequency (34%) of clonally expanded T cells in the peripheral blood samples from patients with SSc compared with the general population. Our findings therefore confirm the data of previous authors who have observed clonal T-cell populations in samples of blood 1 and numerous organs (eg, skin and lungs) of 20% to 56% patients with SSc. [6][7][8] Previous authors 1,[6][7][8] have also suggested that clonal populations of T cells may have a role in the pathogenesis of SSc.…”

“…Our findings therefore confirm the data of previous authors who have observed clonal T-cell populations in samples of blood 1 and numerous organs (eg, skin and lungs) of 20% to 56% patients with SSc. [6][7][8] Previous authors 1,[6][7][8] have also suggested that clonal populations of T cells may have a role in the pathogenesis of SSc. In essence, in a recent series, French et al 1 showed that patients with SSc who have detectable expanded clonal T-cell populationsinsamplesofperipheralbloodappearmorelikely to respond to extracorporeal photophoresis.…”

Extracorporeal photoimmunotherapy-photopheresis

“…Scleroderma has been linked to chronic graft-versushost disease due to clinical and biologic similarities, and similar to patients with CTCL and improved response to ECP with higher amounts of clonal T cells in the peripheral blood, likewise results have been reported in patients with systemic sclerosis (53). Responsiveness to ECP in patients showing presence of expanded clonal Tcell populations is higher, though response to ECP does not seem to correlate with the disappearance of the clonally amplified T-cell populations (53). Many reports in the literature show either a beneficial effect of ECP on systemic sclerosis, or no significant benefit/worsening of scleroderma following ECP (54, 55, 56,57,58).…”

The presence of dominant T-cell clones in peripheral blood of patients with collagen vascular disorders: a prospective study of 97 cases

“…In SSc associated with primary biliary cirrhosis, a clonal expansion of peripheral blood CD8 lymphocytes was present in a significant number of patients in the study of Mayo et al. , 8 whereas a more definite dominant T‐cell clone was detected in peripheral blood in six of 13 patients with CREST syndrome as reported by French et al 9 . However, the number of investigated patients never exceeded 20 except for the study by Kato et al.…”