Inhibitory receptor expression on T cells as marker of disease activity and target to regulate effector cellular responses in Rheumatoid Arthritis

ONOFRIO, LUISINA I.; ZACCA, ESTEFANIA R.; FERRERO, PAOLA; ACOSTA, CRISTINA; MUSSANO, EDUARDO; ONETTI, LAURA; CADILE, ISAAC; GAZZONI, M. VICTORIA; JURADO, RAÚL; TOSELLO BOARI, JIMENA; RAMELLO, MARIA C.; MONTES, CAROLINA L.; GRUPPI, ADRIANA; ACOSTA RODRÍGUEZ, EVA V.

Arthritis & Rheumatology

Wiley

Año: 2018

bstractOBJECTIVE:Inhibitory receptors (IRs) are essential to regulate effector immune responses and may play critical roles during autoimmune diseases. In Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), we evaluated whether IR expression on T cells showed correlation with immune activation, disease activity and response to treatment as well as if IR-mediated pathways were functional.METHODS:By flow cytometry, we performed extensive phenotypic and functional evaluation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from blood and synovial fluid of RA patients ex vivo and after culture. All the parameters were correlated with disease activity score (DAS28) and response to treatment.RESULTS:In RA patients with low activation of T cells, IRs expression showed an inverse relationship with DAS28. Frequencies of T cells expressing multiple IRs were reduced in untreated RA patients but recovered normal levels in treated patients. RA patients that responded to treatment, showed augmented frequency of IRs-expressing T cells that correla