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Antigen-presenting effects of effector memory Vγ9Vδ2 T cells in rheumatoid arthritis

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 9, pages 245–254 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that primarily affects the limbs, but the pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. γδ T cells, a T-cell subpopulation, are characterized by multiple biological functions and associated with a variety of diseases. This study investigated the antigen-presenting effects of γδ T cells and their relationship with rheumatoid arthritis development. We found that Vγ9Vδ2 T cells (the predominant subtype of γδ T cells in peripheral blood) were activated by isopentenyl pyrophosphate to continuously proliferate and differentiate into effector memory cells. The effector memory Vγ9Vδ2 T cells exhibited phenotypic characteristics of specific antigen-presenting cells, including high HLA-DR and CD80/86 expression. These Vγ9Vδ2 T cells could present soluble antigens and synthetic peptides to CD4+ T cells. Vγ9Vδ2 T cells with different phenotypes showed different cytokine secretion patterns. Effector memory Vγ9Vδ2 T cells simultaneously secreted not only interferon (IFN)-γ but also IL-17. The peripheral blood and joint synovial fluid from RA patients contained numerous heterogeneous γδ T cells that were predominantly effector memory Vγ9Vδ2 T cells with the ability to secrete inflammatory factors. We also found that γδ T cells had a similar antigen-presenting capability to B cells. These results suggest that during the development of rheumatoid arthritis, γδ T cells can aggravate immune dysfunction and produce abnormal immune damage by secreting cytokines and inducing inflammatory cells to participate in synergistic inflammatory responses. Furthermore, γδ T cells can behave similarly to B cells to present viral peptides and autoantigen peptides to CD4+ T cells, thus sustaining CD4+ T-cell activation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the grants from the following: National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 30471593, 30872304 and 81072470), Shanghai Commission of Science and Technology (no. 10JC14 08500 and 10ZR1426100), Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline-Surgery (no. S30204-K01), Shanghai Municipal education Commission (no. J50207 and 09YZ102), Shanghai Institute of Immunology (no. 08-A04), Clinical Medicine Technology Development Foundation of Jiangsu University (no. JLY2010091) and Foundation of Shanghai Xuhui Central Hospital (no. 2011XHCH07).

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Author notes

  1. Chaoying Hu and Liu Qian: These two authors contributed equally to this work.

  2. Dr DQ Zhang, Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China. E-mail: dqzhang1333@yahoo.com.cn

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Chaoying Hu, Liu Qian, Yi Miao, Qiuyu Huang, Ping Miao, Ping Wang, Qiwen Yu, Hong Nie, Jiying Zhang & Dongqing Zhang

  2. Central laboratory, Shanghai Xuhui Central Hospital, Shanghai, China

    Chaoying Hu & Yi Miao

  3. Guanghua Rheumatoid Arthritis Specialized Hospital, Shanghai, China

    Dongyi He & Rong Xu

  4. Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, China

    Xuehua Chen & Bingya Liu

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Hu, C., Qian, L., Miao, Y. et al. Antigen-presenting effects of effector memory Vγ9Vδ2 T cells in rheumatoid arthritis. Cell Mol Immunol 9, 245–254 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2011.50

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2011.50

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