Mounting evidence suggests that autoreactivity and inflammatory processes are involved in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Cytoskeletal proteins, including non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA (MYHIIA), vimentin (VIM) and cofilin-1 (CFL1), exposed on the surface of apoptotic cells have been identified as autoantigens that are recognized by the specific B-cell receptors of the CLL cells. In 212 CLL patients analysed with quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction we found CFL1 overexpression and low expression of MYH9 in comparison with healthy volunteers. We detected specific cytotoxic immune responses for peptides derived from MYHIIA in 66·7%, VIM in 87·5% and CFL1 in 62·5% CLL patients in an Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSpot assay. Low frequencies of autoreactive peptide-specific T cells were detected against MYHIIA, VIM and CFL1 in CLL patients ex vivo; most of the detected cells had an effector-memory phenotype. Our findings support the existence of cytotoxic immune responses against three autoantigens that have been identified as targets of CLL clonotypic B-cell receptors. The presence of autoreactive CD8(+) T cells against MYHIIA, VIM and CFL1 in CLL patients indicates the involvement of antigen-specific autoreactive T cells in the pathogenesis of CLL.
Keywords: antigen stimulation; chronic lymphocytic leukaemia; cofilin-1; non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA; vimentin.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.