IngentaConnect Clonal expansion of T cells infiltrating in the airways of non-at...

Authors: Umibe, T.¹; Kita, Y.¹; Nakao, A.¹; Nakajima, H.¹; Fukuda, T.²; Yoshida, S.³; Sakamaki, T.⁴; Saito, Y.¹; Iwamoto, I.¹

Source: Clinical & Experimental Immunology, Volume 119, Number 3, March 2000 , pp. 390-397(8)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

CD4⁺ T cells are thought to play an important role in airway inflammation in both atopic and non-atopic asthma. However, the mechanism by which T cells are activated in non-atopic asthma, where there is no causative antigen identified, is unknown. To elucidate this issue, we analysed T cell receptor (TCR) Vβ gene clonotypes of T cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) of non-atopic asthmatics using polymerase chain reaction single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis and a sequencing method. We found that the numbers of TCR Vβ gene clonotypes of T cells in the BALF of non-atopic asthmatics were significantly increased compared with those of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). We also found that there were several shared amino acid motifs in complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) of TCR Vβ genes from those T cell clones in BALF of non-atopic asthmatics, whereas these shared motifs were not found in the same Vβ family genes from PBL in the patients. Moreover, a conserved amino acid sequence was detected in two patients who shared a common HLA-DR allele. These results indicate that the infiltrating T cells in the airways of non-atopic asthmatics recognize relatively limited epitopes of antigens and are clonally expanded by antigen-driven stimulation.

Keywords: non-atopic asthma; bronchoalveolar lavage fluids; T cell receptor Vβ genes; single-strand conformation polymorphism; CDR3

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2249.2000.01148.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Internal Medicine II, Chiba University School of Medicine, 2: Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, 3: Department of Internal Medicine, Asahi General Hospital, 4: Department of Clinical Investigation, National Sakura Hospital, Chiba and Tochigi, Japan

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Clonal expansion of T cells infiltrating in the airways of non-atopic asthmatics