The Role of T Cells in Health and Sickness 
At the moment we are applying these same 
methods to another human disease, rheumatoid 
arthritis. Although the reasons some persons de- 
velop this disease are not fully understood, there 
are many indications that rheumatoid arthritis is 
triggered by a T cell malfunction. We have exam- 
ined T cells from the rheumatic joints and blood 
of patients with this disease and have found that T 
cells bearing V^l 4 are selectively deficient in the 
blood. Moreover, there are indications that such 
T cells may accumulate in the diseased joints. 
Now we are testing the ideas that rheumatoid ar- 
thritis is caused by malfunction in T cells bearing 
this V/3 and that it may have been started by a 
toxin-like substance that stimulates T cells bear- 
ing V^l4. 
The quantitative polymerase chain reaction 
used in these experiments is a cumbersome and 
difficult technique. With a view to making exper- 
iments easier, we are developing a collection of 
monoclonal antibodies specific for different hu- 
man T cell V|8s. 
300 
