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Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a debilitating immune-mediated inflammatory arthritis of unknown pathogenesis commonly affecting patients with skin psoriasis. Here we use complementary single-cell approaches to study leukocytes from PsA joints. Mass cytometry demonstrates a 3-fold expansion of memory CD8 T cells in the joints of PsA patients compared to peripheral blood. Meanwhile, droplet-based and plate-based single-cell RNA sequencing of paired T cell receptor alpha and beta chain sequences show pronounced CD8 T cell clonal expansions within the joints. Transcriptome analyses find these expanded synovial CD8 T cells to express cycling, activation, tissue-homing and tissue residency markers. T cell receptor sequence comparison between patients identifies clonal convergence. Finally, chemokine receptor CXCR3 is upregulated in the expanded synovial CD8 T cells, while two CXCR3 ligands, CXCL9 and CXCL10, are elevated in PsA synovial fluid. Our data thus provide a quantitative molecular insight into the cellular immune landscape of psoriatic arthritis.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/s41467-020-18513-6

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nat commun

Publication Date

21/09/2020

Volume

11

Keywords

Arthritis, Psoriatic, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Clonal Selection, Antigen-Mediated, Gene Expression Profiling, Humans, Immunologic Memory, Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta, Receptors, Chemokine, Receptors, Lymphocyte Homing, Single-Cell Analysis, Synovial Fluid, Synovial Membrane