Sarcoidosis is a chronic inflammatory systemic disease. In more than 80% of the patients the lung is one of the primarily affected organs. Pulmonary sarcoidosis has previously been considered to be mainly a T helper type 1- and macrophage-driven disease. Recently, a novel population of T follicular helper-like (also known as T peripheral helper) cells which promotes B cell responses in inflamed non-lymphoid tissues has been described. These cells lack the classical Tfh markers Bcl-6 and CXCR5, but express high levels of the two key B cell helper molecules CD40L and IL-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new study demonstrates for the first time the presence of Tfh-like cells in the lungs of pulmonary sarcoidosis patients. They co-produce high levels of IFN-\u03b3 and IL-21 and provide potent B cell help in vitro. In the lung tissue, they are found in large lymphocytic infiltrates in close contact with B cells, indicating that they drive the local generation of plasmablasts. Consistent with this, BAL fluid from sarcoidosis patients contains high levels of immunoglobulins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These findings highlight an underappreciated role of T cell \/ B cell collaboration in sarcoidosis. More over, elevated frequencies of circulating Tfh-like cells in peripheral blood may be a useful marker for monitoring sarcoidosis disease activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group of Andreas Hutloff could show for the first time that interaction of T and B lymphocytes plays an important role for sarcoidosis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-3456","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/immunologie-kiel.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/3456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/immunologie-kiel.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/immunologie-kiel.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/immunologie-kiel.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}