Aneurysmal lesions of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm contain clonally expanded T cells.

ABSTRACT: 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 ?-chain TCR transcripts by the nonpalindromic adaptor-PCR/V?-specific PCR and/or V?-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 ?-chain TCR transcripts were identified in these patients. These clonal expansions are statistically significant. These results demonstrate that ?? 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.

SUBMITTER: Lu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4009497 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature