Fig. 1

The repertoire of activated peripheral and synovial T cells is different

CD4⁺ IL-2R⁺ and CD4⁺ IL-2R⁻ T cells from peripheral blood and synovial tissue were purified by cell sorting. A sample of 10% of the total repertoire was screened for oligoclonal populations by PCR with BV and BJ specific primers. The amplified product was separated by size fractionation. Dominant bands were eluted, reamplified and directly sequenced. A representative example of the BV17-BJ2S7 amplification product from synovial tissue of metacarpal joint (MCP) II and peripheral blood (Patient RC) is shown. The repertoires of IL-2R⁺ CD4⁺ T cells in peripheral blood and synovial tissue were different. The amplification product from IL-2R⁺ CD4⁺ peripheral cells contained two dominant bands, one of which (a) was not present in the IL-2R⁺ synovial T cells. For band b different sequences were found in the peripheral blood and synovial tissue (BV17 CACRDPSYEQYF BJ2S7 in the IL-2R⁺ fraction of MCP II;. BV17 CASSSKASSYEQYF BJ2S7 in the IL-2R⁺ fraction from PBMC).