Aneurysmal Lesions of Patients with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Contain Clonally Expanded T Cells

作者：Lu Song; White John V; Lin Wan Lu; Zhang Xiaoying; Solomides Charalambos; Evans Kyle; Ntaoula Nectaria; Nwaneshiudu Ifeyinwa; Gaughan John; Monos Dimitri S; Oleszak Emilia L; Platsoucas Chris D^*

来源：The Journal of Immunology, 2014, 192(10): 4897-4912.

DOI：10.4049/jimmunol.1301009

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common disease with often life-threatening consequences. This vascular disorder is responsible for 1-2% of all deaths in men aged 65 years or older. Autoimmunity may be responsible for the pathogenesis of AAA. Although it is well documented that infiltrating T cells are essentially always present in AAA lesions, little is known about their role in the initiation and/or progression of the disease. To determine whether T cells infiltrating AAA lesions contain clonally expanded populations of T cells, we amplified beta-chain TCR transcripts by the nonpalindromic adaptor-PCR/V beta-specific PCR and/or V beta-specific PCR, followed by cloning and sequencing. We report in this article that aortic abdominal aneurysmal lesions from 8 of 10 patients with AAA contained oligoclonal populations of T cells. Multiple identical copies of b-chain TCR transcripts were identified in these patients. These clonal expansions are statistically significant. These results demonstrate that ab TCR+ T lymphocytes infiltrating aneurysmal lesions of patients with AAA have undergone proliferation and clonal expansion in vivo at the site of the aneurysmal lesion, in response to unidentified self-or nonself Ags. This evidence supports the hypothesis that AAA is a specific Ag-driven T cell disease.

• 出版日期2014-5-15