An expanded parenchymal CD8+ T cell clone in GABAA receptor encephalitis

Bracher, Aline; Alcalá, Carmen; Ferrer, Jaime; Melzer, Nico; Hohlfeld, Reinhard; Casanova, Bonaventura; Beltrán, Eduardo and Dornmair, Klaus (2020): An expanded parenchymal CD8+ T cell clone in GABAA receptor encephalitis. In: Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, Vol. 7, No. 2: pp. 239-244

Abstract

The role of T cells in autoimmune encephalitis syndromes with autoantibodies against cell surface antigens is still enigmatic. Here we analyzed the T cell receptor repertoires of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells in a patient with “idiopathic” gamma‐aminobutyric‐acid‐A receptor (GABAA‐R) encephalitis by next‐generation sequencing and single‐cell analyses. We identified a CD8+ T cell clone that was strongly expanded in the cerebrospinal fluid and in the hippocampus but not in the operculo‐insular cortex. By contrast, CD4+ T cells were polyclonal in these tissues. Such a strong clonal expansion suggests that CD8+ T cells may play a significant role in the pathogenesis.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Medicine; Medicine > Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy)
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 2328-9503
• Language: English
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - 390857198