The morphology of GCA / C. Nordborg et al. The pathogenesis of giant cell arteritis: Morphological aspects C. Nordborg1, E. Nordborg2, V. Petursdottir1 1Department of Pathology, 2Department of ABSTRACT in GCA. When studying V-beta families Rheumatology, Sahlgrenska University The light-microscopic, electron-micro- of the T-cell infiltrate with flow cyto- Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden. scopic and immunocytochemical charac- metry, Schaufelberger et al. found that These studies were supported by grants teristics of giant cell arteritis (GCA) the infiltrating lymphocytes are polyclo- from the Göteborg Medical Society, the have been investigated in a number of nal (3). On the other hand, Weyand et Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the studies on temporal arteries. Arterial al. (4) demonstrated the identical clonal Swedish Rheumatism Association, Rune atrophy and calcification of the internal expansion of a small proportion of the och Ulla Amlöfs Stiftelse and Syskonen elastic membrane appear to be prere- T-lymphocytes in separate segments of Holmströms Donationsfond. quisites for the evolution of the inflam- the same artery, which indicates antigen Please address correspondence and reprint matory process. Foreign body giant cells stimulation. A correlation between va- requests to: Claes Nordborg, Department form close to calcifications, apparently rious infections and the onset of GCA of Pathology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Göteborg, Sweden. without connection with other inflam- has been reported; it has been speculated E-mail:
[email protected] matory cells and probably by the fusion that infectious disorders might trigger the of modified vascular smooth muscle inflammatory process (5). Zoster-vari- Clin Exp Rheumatol 2000: 18 (Suppl. 20): cells.