Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bartolome Pacheco, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Lopez-Hoyos, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bartolome Pacheco, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Lopez-Hoyos, M.
Related Collections
Right arrow Spondylarthropathies
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Rheumatology 2002; 41: 1119-1125
© 2002 British Society for Rheumatology

Original Papers

Reactive arthritis after BCG immunotherapy: T cell analysis in peripheral blood and synovial fluid

M. J. Bartolome Pacheco, V. M. Martinez-Taboada, R. Blanco1, V. Rodriguez-Valverde1, J. I. Valle2 and M. Lopez-Hoyos

Divisions of Immunology
1 Rheumatology and
2 Urology, Hospital Universitario ‘Marqués de Valdecilla’, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain

Objective. To investigate the pathogenic mechanism of reactive arthritis after instillation of Calmette–Guérin bacillus (BCG). Although the clinical features of reactive arthritis after BCG therapy are well described, only a few reports have studied the possible pathogenic mechanisms.

Methods. We analysed by flow cytometry the phenotype and T-cell receptor (TCR) expression of peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) T cells in a patient who developed reactive arthritis (ReA) following intravesical BCG immunotherapy for bladder cancer. The proliferative response of short-term T-cell lines (TCL) from PB of this patient to mycobacterial antigens was tested by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation.

Results. CD4+ and CD8+ SF T cells with activated and memory phenotype were observed at the onset of arthritis. We were able to detect BV-restricted expansion of CD8+ T cells in PB (BV17) and in SF (BV5S1 and BV12). The percentage of PB and SF CD8+ T cells that expanded diminished when the symptoms remitted. The strongest response of CD4+ TCL from the patient in vitro was obtained for human hsp-60 in an inversely dose-dependent manner. Very important was the finding that CD8+ TCL from the patient demonstrated no proliferative response to any antigenic challenge that was reversed after the addition of exogenous interleukin 2.

Conclusion. Although the identity of the stimulating antigen that led to the expansions observed in this patient is not clarified by the present data, both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells might play a role in the development of ReA following intravesical administration of BCG.

KEY WORDS: Reactive arthritis, BCG instillation, T lymphocytes, TCRBV, Peripheral blood, Synovial fluid, Bromodeoxyuridine.

Correspondence to: V. M. Martinez-Taboada, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario ‘Marques de Valdecilla’, Av. Valdecilla, s/n 39008 Santander, Spain.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.