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Rheumatology Advance Access published online on April 25, 2006
Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kel119
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received August 18, 2005
Accepted March 15, 2006

Original Papers

Decreased CD161+CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood of patients suffering from rheumatic diseases

A. Mitsuo 1 *, S. Morimoto 1, Y. Nakiri 1, J. Suzuki 1, H. Kaneko 1, Y. Tokano 1, H. Tsuda 1, Y. Takasaki 1, and H. Hashimoto 1

1 Department of Rheumatology and Internal Medicine, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
A. Mitsuo, E-mail: iwai-kkr{at}umin.ac.jp


  Abstract

Objectives. Although it has been reported that the numbers of both CD4-CD8- and CD4+ natural killer T (NKT) cells are selectively decreased in the peripheral blood of patients with rheumatic diseases, there have been no reports concerning a novel subpopulation of CD8+ NKT cells. To examine whether CD161+CD8+ T cells, which are closely related to CD8+ NKT cells, are also decreased in patients with rheumatic diseases, we have investigated the expression of CD161, together with that of CD28, CD25 and CD62L, on T cells in the peripheral blood of these patients.

Methods. The rheumatic diseases evaluated in this study were systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (n = 54), mixed connective-tissue disease (MCTD) (n = 15), systemic sclerosis (SSc) (n = 14), polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) (n = 13) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n = 24). Healthy donors were examined as controls (n = 18). The expression of CD161, CD28, CD25 and CD62L on T cells was analysed by flow cytometry.

Results. Both the frequency of CD161 expression on CD8+ cells and the absolute number of CD161+CD8+ cells were significantly decreased in patients with SLE, MCTD, SSc and PM/DM. Only the absolute number of CD161+CD8+ T cells was significantly decreased in RA. CD161 expression on CD28-CD8+ T cells was significantly decreased in SLE, MCTD and SSc. The absolute number of CD161+CD8+CD62L- T cells was significantly decreased in SLE, MCTD and SSc.

Conclusions. Both the frequency and the absolute number of CD161+CD8+ T cells were decreased in the peripheral blood of patients suffering from SLE, MCTD, SSc and PM/DM. This result suggests that there is also an abnormality of NKT cells in the CD8+ population.

Keywords: CD161+CD8+ T cells; CD8+ NKT cells; Rheumatic diseases.
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