Step 1: Separate the synovium into two zones. The thin surface intimal lining and the deeper subintimal stroma behave differently in rheumatoid arthritis, and the question asks specifically about the prominent lining cell.
Step 2: In rheumatoid disease the lining swells from a few cells to 8 to 10 cells deep. This expanded lining is built mainly of fibroblast-like synoviocytes together with macrophages. Of the listed choices, the macrophage is the prominent lining cell, giving option C.
Step 3: Exclude the rest. CD4+ T cells and B cells gather in the sublining to form ectopic lymphoid follicles and sustain autoimmunity, but they sit beneath, not within, the lining layer. Dendritic cells contribute to antigen presentation yet remain numerically minor. So the standout lining cell is the macrophage.
\[\boxed{\text{Macrophages}}\]