T cell co-stimulation is important for the maintenance of immunologic tolerance. Co-inhibitory receptors including programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) confer peripheral tolerance to prevent autoimmunity. SAP (SH2D1A) is an adaptor molecule that is important in T cell signaling and has been shown to interact with signaling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM) family receptors also in the context of self-tolerance. We recently reported that SAP interferes with PD-1 function. In the current study, we investigated the levels of SAP and PD-1 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to further understand what role they play in disease activity. We observed increased SAP levels in lymphocytes of RA patients and found that PD-1 levels correlated positively with RA disease activity. Additionally, we found that SAP interacts with CD28 to inhibit T cell signaling in vitro. This work demonstrates a putative molecular mechanism for SAP mediated PD-1 inhibition.
Keywords: CD28; DAS28; PD-1; Rheumatoid arthritis; SAP.
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