T-CELL CLONALITY IN SYNOVIAL FLUID FROM RHEUMATOID JOINTS BEFORE AND AFTER CULTURE IN INTERLEUKIN-2

T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements which have been amplifiedin polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) and analysed by high resolutionpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis have been used to investigatethe clonal diversity of T-cells in joint effusions from 16 patientswith rheumatoid arthritis, one with systemic lupus erythematosusand one with psoriatic arthropathy. Polyclonality was foundin every case but an oligoclonal subset of dominant rearrangementswas also demonstrated in all but the patient with psoriasis.Marked changes in the relative preponderance of the variousclonotypes wer observed in 29 of 48 paired tests from 12 casesbefore and after culture in media containing interleukin-2 (IL-2)showing that SF mononuclear cells cultured in vitro with IL-2are not representative of those present in vivo. KEY WORDS: T-cell receptor gene rearrangements, T-cell clonal dominance, Rheumatoid arthritis, Systemic lupus erythematosus, Psoriatic arthropathy