Interstitial lung disease (ILD) represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The purpose of this study was to examine recirculating lymphocytes from SSc patients for potential biomarkers of interstitial lung disease (ILD). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from patients with SSc and healthy controls enrolled in the Vanderbilt University Myositis and Scleroderma Treatment Initiative Center cohort between 9/2017–6/2019. Clinical phenotyping was performed by chart abstraction. Immunophenotyping was performed using both mass cytometry and fluorescence cytometry combined with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding analysis and traditional biaxial gating. This study included 34 patients with SSc-ILD, 14 patients without SSc-ILD, and 25 healthy controls. CD21lo/neg cells are significantly increased in SSc-ILD but not in SSc without ILD (15.4 ± 13.3% vs. 5.8 ± 0.9%, p = 0.002) or healthy controls (5.0 ± 0.5%, p < 0.0001). While CD21lo/neg B cells can be identified from a single biaxial gate, tSNE analysis reveals that the biaxial gate is comprised of multiple distinct subsets, all of which are increased in SSc-ILD. CD21lo/neg cells in both healthy controls and SSc-ILD are predominantly tBET positive and do not have intracellular CD21. Immunohistochemistry staining demonstrated that CD21lo/neg B cells diffusely infiltrate the lung parenchyma of an SSc-ILD patient. Additional work is needed to validate this biomarker in larger cohorts and longitudinal studies and to understand the role of these cells in SSc-ILD.
Type II collagen (CII) is of immunological interest because of its
repetitive structure and properties as an autoantigen. The mouse gene has
recently been cloned, thus enabling T cell-defined epitopes to be
identified. Multiple novel epitopes on mouse CII are here detected in the
autoreactive T cell response. The major response is directed to an epitope
with residues 707-721 located on the CB10 fragment. Some 25 other epitopes
are also recognized, including the autologous homologue of the 256-270
epitope which dominates in the response to foreign collagen. The cells
reactive with mouse collagen peptides were of Th1 type, as judged by
release of IFN-gamma. No significant reactivity was detected to mouse CII
peptides during ongoing disease. Alignment of the mouse epitopes revealed a
sequence motif with characteristic side chains at residues P1, P4 and P7,
and to a lesser extent at P5, within a nonamer core sequence. Binding of
these epitopes was simulated in a computer model of the I-Aq molecule,
where peptides with anchor residues at P1, P4 and P7 were indeed found to
fit the binding groove best. The spacing of pockets and the fine structure
of the binding surface of the I-Aq molecule meshes with the repetitive
structure of the collagen (X-Y-Gly), thus providing a likely explanation
for the occurrence of multiple epitopes. Comparison with human DR binding
motifs showed that the I-Aq motif resembles most closely that of the DR4
subtypes which predispose for rheumatoid arthritis.
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While an unstable CTG triplet repeat expansion is responsible for myotonic
dystrophy, the mechanism whereby this genetic defect induces the disease
remains unknown. To detect proteins binding to CTG triplet repeats, we
performed bandshift analysis using as probes double- stranded DNA fragments
having CTG repeats [ds(CTG)6-10] and single- stranded oligonucleotides
having CTG repeats ss(CTG)8 or RNA CUG triplet repeats (CUG)8. The source
of protein was nuclear and cytoplasmic extracts of HeLa cells, fibroblasts
and myotubes. Proteins binding to the double-stranded DNA repeat
[ds(CTG)6-10], were inhibited by nonlabeled ds(CTG)6-10, but not by a
non-specific DNA fragment (USF/AD-ML). Another protein binding to ssCTG
probe and RNA CUG probe was inhibited by nonlabeled (CTG)8 and (CUG)8.
Nonlabeled oligos with different triplet repeat sequences, ss(CAG)8 or
ss(CGG)8, did not inhibit binding to the ss(CTG)8 probe. However, when
labeled as probes, the (CAG)8 and (CGG)8 bound to proteins distinct from
the CTG proteins and binding was inhibited by nonlabeled (CAG)8 or (CGG)8
respectively. The protein binding only to the RNA repeat (CUG)8 was
inhibited by nonlabeled (CUG)8 but not by nonlabeled single- or
double-stranded CTG repeats. Furthermore, the CUG-BP exhibited no binding
to an RNA oligonucleotide of triplet repeats of the same length but having
a different sequence, CGG. The CUG binding protein was localized to the
cytoplasm, whereas dsDNA binding proteins were localized to the nuclear
extract. Thus, several trinucleotide binding proteins exist and their
specificity is determined by the triplet sequence. The novel protein,
CUG-BP, is particularly interesting since it binds to triplet repeats known
to be present in myotonin protein kinase mRNA which is responsible for
myotonic dystrophy.
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