Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

AUTOIMMUNITY

The rise of peripheral T helper cells in autoimmune disease

Studies across multiple autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and coeliac disease, have identified a pathologically expanded PD1hiCXCR5CD4+ T cell population that accumulates in inflamed tissues. Can this peripheral T helper cell population be harnessed as a predictive biomarker or targeted therapeutically in these diseases?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Ermann, J. et al. Immune cell profiling to guide therapeutic decisions in rheumatic diseases. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 11, 541–551 (2015).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Christophersen, A. et al. Distinct phenotype of CD4+ T cells driving celiac disease identified in multiple autoimmune conditions. Nat. Med. 25, 734–737 (2019).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Spitzer, M. H. & Nolan, G. P. Mass cytometry: single cells, many features. Cell 165, 780–791 (2016).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Rao, D. A. et al. Pathologically expanded peripheral T helper cell subset drives B cells in rheumatoid arthritis. Nature 542, 110–114 (2017).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Mingueneau, M. et al. Cytometry by time-of-flight immunophenotyping identifies a blood Sjögren’s signature correlating with disease activity and glandular inflammation. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 137, 1809–1821 (2016).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Arazi, A. et al. The immune cell landscape in kidneys of lupus nephritis patients. Nat. Immunol. (in the press).

  7. Zhang, F. et al. Defining inflammatory cell states in rheumatoid arthritis joint synovial tissues by integrating single-cell transcriptomics and mass cytometry. Nat. Immunol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-019-0378-1 (2019).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Crotty, S. Follicular helper CD4 T cells (TFH). Annu. Rev. Immunol. 29, 621–663 (2011).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Rao, D. A. T cells that help B cells in chronically inflamed tissues. Front. Immunol. 9, 1924 (2018).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Caielli, S. et al. A CD4+ T cell population expanded in lupus blood provides B cell help through interleukin-10 and succinate. Nat. Med. 25, 75–81 (2019).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The work of the author is supported by the Lupus Research Alliance, a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Medical Sciences and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (grant number K08 AR072791-01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deepak A. Rao.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

D.A.R. declares he has received consulting fees from Janssen, Pfizer and Scipher Medicine, research grant support from Merck and is co-inventor of patent WO2017213695A1, submitted on T peripheral helper cells.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rao, D.A. The rise of peripheral T helper cells in autoimmune disease. Nat Rev Rheumatol 15, 453–454 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-019-0241-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-019-0241-7

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing