Analysis of accumulating clonotypes of T cell in joints of a spontaneous murine model of rheumatoid arthritis.

SKG mouse, as a model of spontaneous rheumatoid arthritis (RA) bred recent years, is similar to the patients with RA. We analyzed the clonotypes of T cell infiltrating into joints of SKG mice in initial stage and late stage of RA by using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and subsequent single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). The results indicated that the percentages of clonotypes TCR Vbeta2 and Vbeta8.

T cells accumulating in the inflamed joints of a spontaneous murine model of rheumatoid arthritis become restricted to common clonotypes during disease progression.

Although a number of studies have revealed that T cells expand clonally in the joints of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the kinetics of T cell clonality in multiple joints of an individual throughout progression of the disease is not known. By employing a TCR beta chain gene-specific RT-PCR and subsequent single-strand conformation polymorphism, which enables us to monitor T cell clonality, we analyzed transgenic mice (Tg) carrying the human T cell leukemia virus type I env-pX region. These mice spontaneously develop destructive progressive arthritis similar to RA as they age.