@article {Riccieri283, author = {Valeria Riccieri and Gilberto Parisi and Antonio Spadaro and Rossana Scrivo and Francesca Barone and Tiziana Moretti and Graziella Bernardini and Roberto Strom and Egisto Taccari and Guido Valesini}, title = {Reduced circulating natural killer T cells and gamma/delta T cells in patients with systemic sclerosis.}, volume = {32}, number = {2}, pages = {283--286}, year = {2005}, publisher = {The Journal of Rheumatology}, abstract = {OBJECTIVE: To evaluate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) expressing natural killer (NK) cell surface markers (CD16 and CD56, in both CD3- and CD3+ cells) and g/d T cell receptors (TCR) involved in non-MHC-restricted cytotoxicity, assessing their possible relationship with clinical and laboratory variables in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: We submitted 50 patients with SSc to detailed clinical and laboratory assessment, and also performed PBMC subset analyses by direct dual immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found in the percentages or the absolute numbers of total lymphocytes, of B cells, and of CD4+ T cells. The absolute number of CD8+ cells was lower (p \< 0.03), while HLA-DR+ elements were higher in frequency (p \< 0.03) in SSc patients than in healthy controls. SSc patients had lower values (both percentage and absolute number) of NK-T cells (p \< 0.01 and p \< 0.003, respectively) and of T cells expressing g/d TCR (p \< 0.01 and p \< 0.005, respectively); whereas NK cells were marginally but not significantly decreased. The absolute number of NK-T cells showed an inverse correlation to erythrocyte sedimentation rate values (p \< 0.03; rs = -0.306), percentage of g-globulins (p \< 0.01; rs = -0.353), and serum concentrations of IgG (p \< 0.02; rs = -0.334). CONCLUSION: Impairment of NK-T cells and of T cells expressing g/d TCR may lead to downregulation of normal immune response, and seems to be important for immunological and inflammatory aspects of SSc.}, issn = {0315-162X}, URL = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/32/2/283}, eprint = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/32/2/283.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Rheumatology} }