Th2‐oriented profile of male offspring T cells present in women with systemic sclerosis and reactive with maternal major histocompatibility complex antigens

Abstract

Male-offspring T cells that are present in the blood and skin of women with SSc and react with maternal MHC antigens exhibit a Th2-oriented profile, supporting the possibility that a chronic graft-versus-host reaction attributable to long-term microchimerism plays a pathogenic role in SSc.