Blockade of Glucocorticoid-Induced Tumor Necrosis Factor-Receptor-Related Protein Signaling Ameliorates Murine Collagen-Induced Arthritis by Modulating Follicular Helper T Cells.

Blockade of Glucocorticoid-Induced Tumor Necrosis Factor-Receptor-Related Protein Signaling Ameliorates Murine Collagen-Induced Arthritis by Modulating Follicular Helper T Cells. Am J Pathol. 2016 Apr 19; Authors: Ma J, Feng D, Wei Y, Tian J, Tang X, Rui K, Lu L, Xu H, Wang S Abstract Recent studies have shown that glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor-receptor-related protein (GITR) and its ligand (GITRL) are critically involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune arthritis, but the role of GITRL/GITR signaling in modulating CD4(+) follicular helper T (Tfh) cell response during autoimmune arthritis remains largely unclear. We showed that splenic Tfh cells from mice with collagen-induced arthritis expressed higher levels of GITR compared with non-Tfh cells. In vitro, GITRL treatment markedly enhanced the percentage and number of Tfh cells. The administration of GITR-Fc protein in mice with collagen-induced arthritis suppressed the Tfh cell response, resulting in ameliorated disease severity, and reduced production of autoantibody and the number of autoantibody-secreting cells in both the spleen and bone marrow. Together, these results indicate that blockade of GITR signaling can ameliorate arthritis progression mainly by modulating the Tfh cell response. PMID: 27106763 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The American Journal of Pathology - Category: Pathology Authors: Tags: Am J Pathol Source Type: research