Correspondence on "Isolation of HLA-DR-naturally presented peptides identifies T-cell epitopes for rheumatoid arthritis"

The article titled ‘Isolation of HLA-DR naturally presented peptides identifies T cell epitopes for rheumatoid arthritis’ reports the elution and characterisation by mass spectrometry of ‘naturally processed’ peptides from the synovial fluid and synovium of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.1 It uses state of the art technology to produce monocyte-derived dendritic cells and analyse the peptides associated with their Human Leucocyte Antigen DR molecules by mass spectrometry. However, the whole project is based on the a priori hypothesis that RA develops in the synovium and that only synovium-derived antigens are relevant. Thus, dendritic cells are pulsed with IgG-depleted, albumin-depleted synovial fluid or synovial tissue (This eliminates any antigen contained in an immune complex.). Later, among the analysed proteins/peptides, sequences from skin-specific proteins are discarded (this would eliminate filaggrin) and citrullinated proteins are specifically selected. This way of constructing a study makes sure that nothing new will be found:...
Source: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases - Category: Rheumatology Authors: Tags: ARD Correspondence Source Type: research