Birdshot Retinochoroiditis (BSRC) is a progressive non-infectious intraocular inflammation that affects choroid and retina. Inflammatory processes have adverse effects on vision by affecting photoreceptor-bearing cells that do not regenerate. This study aimed at characterizing inflammatory CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets in the peripheral blood of active and inactive BSRCs. Furthermore, we correlated phenotypical and functional immunological analyses with clinical data. We observed a slight increase of terminally differentiated effector memory CD8+ T cells expressing CD45RA (TEMRA) in blood of inactive, compared to active BSRCs. Moreover, we identified a trend for a decreased population of TH2 cells and increased TH1 frequencies in active BSRCs, a typical sign of ongoing autoimmune processes. Functional assays demonstrated severe and overall impairment of effector function of both, CD4+ and CD8+ inflammatory T cells, which might reflect T cell exhaustion. Although the eye is the main site of inflammation in BSRC, we observed altered T cell subset compositions in the peripheral blood, dependent on the disease status. Our results indicate that T cells may play a major role in BSRC pathology, although our cohort size is too limited for definitve conclusions. Future studies with larger BSRCs have to be performed.
CITATION STYLE
Trombke, J., Loyal, L., Braun, J., Pleyer, U., Thiel, A., & Pohlmann, D. (2021). Analysis of peripheral inflammatory T cell subsets and their effector function in patients with Birdshot Retinochoroiditis. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88013-0
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