HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Beaudette-Zlatanova, B. C. Articles by Rifkin, I. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Beaudette-Zlatanova, B. C. Articles by Rifkin, I. R. Pubmed/NCBI databases Substance via MeSH

B Cells and Dendritic Cells from V8 Light Chain Transgenic Mice Activate MRL-lpr/gld CD4⁺ T Cells¹

Britte C. Beaudette-Zlatanova^*, Tina Ling^*, Mark J. Shlomchik, Ann Marshak-Rothstein and Ian R. Rifkin^2,*

^* Renal Section, Department of Medicine, and Department of Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118; Section of Immunobiology and Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520

Autoreactive CD4⁺ T cells are required for full expression of disease in human systemic lupus erythematosus and in spontaneous murine lupus. However, the Ag specificity of these CD4⁺ T cells remains largely unknown. Rheumatoid factor (RF) B cells function as highly efficient APCs by taking up immune complexes (IC) and presenting IC constituents to T cells. We hypothesized that Ag-specific CD4⁺ T cells in lupus-prone mice could be identified by stimulating the CD4⁺ T cells with RF B cells from AM14 RF BCR transgenic mice pulsed with IC containing lupus-associated autoantibodies and autoantigens. This approach identified several independent T cell lines that proliferated robustly in response to IC-pulsed spleen cells from the AM14 RF BCR transgenic mice. However, these T cells did not recognize an IC constituent. Instead, these T cells recognized a determinant dependent on the inheritance of the transgene-encoded V8 L chain, most likely a neoantigen created by the insertion of the transgene into the genome. Additionally, although the precise nature of the neoantigen is not known, the T cells described in this report may provide a useful tool for examining the role of T cells in the RF autoantibody response.