OBJECTIVES: To investigate the diversity of peripheral blood T cell receptor (TCR) β chain complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) based on immune repertoire sequencing in neonates with sepsis and the possible pathogenesis of neonatal sepsis. METHODS: A total of 12 neonates with sepsis were enrolled as the case group, and 9 healthy full-term infants, matched for gestational age, birth weight, and age, were enrolled as the control group. Omega nucleic acid purification kit (SQ blood DNA Kit II) was used to extract DNA from peripheral blood samples, TCR β chain CDR3 was amplified by multiplex PCR, and then high-throughput sequencing was performed for the products to analyze the diversity of TCR β chain CDR3 and the difference in expression. RESULTS: The length and type of TCR β chain CDR3 were similar between the case and control groups, and Gaussian distribution was observed in both groups. With D50 and Shannon-Wiener index as the evaluation indices for diversity, the case group had a significantly lower diversity of TCR β chain CDR3 than the control group ( CONCLUSIONS There is a significant change in the diversity of TCR β chain CDR3 in the peripheral blood of neonates with sepsis, suggesting that it might be associated with the immune pathogenesis of neonatal sepsis.
Complementarity Determining Regions/genetics* ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Humans ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Neonatal Sepsis ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/genetics*

To explore the association between T-cell receptor beta variable (TCR BV) complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) spectratyping and CMV activation in the recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).Fluorescence quantitative PCR melting curve analysis was used to sequence 24 TCR BV families in 7 HSCT recipients and 3 healthy controls. CMV-pp65 antigenemia was measured by immunohistochemical staining. Plasma IgM specific for CMV was identified using ELISA. Relationship between TCR BV families and CMV activation was statistically analyzed.Twenty-four TCR BV families were expressed in 3 healthy controls, while TCR BV CDR3 sequencing results in 7 recipients turned out to be BV9, BV11, BV17, BV20 and so on. Amino acid sequence features were as follows:TCR BV9 contained "QVRGGTDTQ", TCR BV11 contained "VATDEQ" and "LGDEQ", TCR BV17 contained "IGQGNTEA", and TCR BV20 contained "VGLAANEQ". Five recipients suffered from pp65 antigenemia in 3 month after transplantation, and pp65-positive cells ranged from 2 to 15 per 5×10white blood cells. Three recipients were CMV-IgM positive. No significant differences were found in TCR BV families between pp65-positive recipients and pp65-negative recipients (all>0.05). But there was statistically significant difference in frequency of TCR BV11 between CMV-IgM negative recipients and CMV-IgM positive recipients (<0.05).T cell immune response was characterized by special TCR BV CDR3 spectratyping in HSCT recipients, and TCR BV11 expression may be associated with CMV activation.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Complementarity Determining Regions ; genetics ; immunology ; Cytomegalovirus ; genetics ; immunology ; Cytomegalovirus Infections ; genetics ; Genotype ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Activation ; genetics ; Phosphoproteins ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; immunology ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; immunology ; Spleen ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; virology ; Viral Matrix Proteins

Analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of innate CD4+ T cells selected by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-dependent thymocyte-thymocyte (T-T) interaction (T-T CD4+ T cells) is essential for predicting the characteristics of the antigens that bind to these T cells and for distinguishing T-T CD4+ T cells from other types of innate T cells. Using the TCRmini Tg mouse model, we show that the repertoire of TCRalpha chains in T-T CD4+ T cells was extremely diverse, in contrast to the repertoires previously described for other types of innate T cells. The TCRalpha chain sequences significantly overlapped between T-T CD4+ T cells and conventional CD4+ T cells in the thymus and spleen. However, the diversity of the TCRalpha repertoire of T-T CD4+ T cells seemed to be restricted compared with that of conventional CD4+ T cells. Interestingly, the frequency of the parental OT-II TCRalpha chains was significantly reduced in the process of T-T interaction. This diverse and shifted repertoire in T-T CD4+ T cells has biological relevance in terms of defense against diverse pathogens and a possible regulatory role during peripheral T-T interaction.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antigens, Surface/metabolism ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/cytology/*immunology/*metabolism ; Cell Communication ; Cell Differentiation/genetics/immunology ; Clonal Evolution ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class II/*immunology ; *Immunity, Innate ; Immunophenotyping ; Lymphocyte Count ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Mice, Transgenic ; Peptide Fragments/chemistry ; Phenotype ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/chemistry/*genetics/metabolism ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/chemistry/genetics ; Spleen/cytology ; Thymocytes/cytology/immunology/metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the cytotoxicity of normal CD8(+) T lymphocytes retrovirally transduced with WT1 peptide-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) genes against human lung cancer cells.

METHODSHLA-A*2402-restricted and WT1 peptide-specific TCR-&alpha;/&beta; genes were cloned from a cytotoxic T lymphocyte clone and inserted into a retroviral TCR expression vector. The cytotoxicity of normal peripheral CD8⁺ T cells transduced with the WT1-TCR genes against human lung cancer cells was evaluated using a standard ⁵¹Cr release assay.

RESULTSThe WT1-TCR gene-modified T cells recognized the peptide-pulsed target cells but not the non-pulsed cells. TCR-redirected CD8⁺ T cells lysed WT1-overexpressing human lung cancer cells in an HLA-A*2402-restricted manner, but did not kill normal cells positively expressing HLA-A*2402.

CONCLUSIONThese data demonstrate the feasibility of adoptive immunotherapy with TCR-redirected T cell for the treatment of lung cancer.

CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; cytology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Genes, T-Cell Receptor ; Humans ; Immunotherapy, Adoptive ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Peptides ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Retroviridae ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; cytology ; Transduction, Genetic ; WT1 Proteins ; genetics

The characterization of the human T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire has made remarkable progress, with most of the work focusing on the TCRβ chains. Here, we analyzed the diversity and complexity of both the TCRα and TCRβ repertoires of three healthy donors. We found that the diversity of the TCRα repertoire is higher than that of the TCRβ repertoire, whereas the usages of the V and J genes tended to be preferential with similar TRAV and TRAJ patterns in all three donors. The V-J pairings, like the V and J gene usages, were slightly preferential. We also found that the TRDV1 gene rearranges with the majority of TRAJ genes, suggesting that TRDV1 is a shared TRAV/DV gene (TRAV42/DV1). Moreover, we uncovered the presence of tandem TRBD (TRB D gene) usage in ~2% of the productive human TCRβ CDR3 sequences.
Complementarity Determining Regions ; genetics ; DNA Primers ; chemistry ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; genetics ; Gene Rearrangement, delta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; genetics ; Genes, T-Cell Receptor beta ; genetics ; Genetic Variation ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin Joining Region ; genetics ; Immunoglobulin Variable Region ; genetics ; Male ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics

OBJECTIVEOmenn syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive hereditary severe combined immunodeficiency. The purpose of this study was to understand clinical characteristics and genetic mutation type of Omenn syndrome and to improve the recognition of Omenn syndrome among pediatric clinicians.

METHODOne suspected case of severe combined immunodeficiency was found to have pneumonia repeatedly, intractable diarrhea, poor antibiotic treatment effect, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly and erythroderma. The patient was diagnosed as having Omenn syndrome by RT-PCR, and the expression of RAG1/RAG2 and gene analysis of RAG1/RAG2 were performed.

RESULTThe classification of lymphocyte was CD3(+) cells (35.3%), CD19(+) cells (0.4%), CD16(+) cells (57.6%). After stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), lymphocyte proliferation of the child was extremely low. Genetic studies showed RAG1 homozygous deletion mutation (2302 del T). He had detectable activated T-lymphocytes with low circulating B-lymphocytes and no evidence of maternal T-cell engrafment as indicated by the short tandem repeat (STR) analysis.

CONCLUSIONOmenn syndrome is a severe combined immunodeficiency disease caused by mutations in the RAG1/RAG2 gene. The disease has been reported rarely in China. The clinical manifestations of the disease is early postnatal repeated infections and erythroderma. Mutation analysis of RAG1/RAG2 gene may help to confirm the diagnosis and may be useful in early immune reconstitution and genetic counseling.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Biomarkers ; blood ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Genotype ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Lymphocytes ; immunology ; pathology ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Mutation ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; Phenotype ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Severe Combined Immunodeficiency ; diagnosis ; genetics ; pathology

This study was aimed to investigate the immunogenetic diagnosis of large granular lymphocytic leukemia (LGLL) and therapeutic efficacy of sirolimus, and to analysis 256 cases of LGLL reported at home and abroad within 2000 - 2010. Besides the routine examination of peripheral blood and classification of bone marrow cell morphology, the expression of T cell receptor variable region of &beta;-chain (TCR BV), CD3, CD4 and CD8, as well as TCR&alpha;&beta;, TCRγδ were detected by flow cytometry; the RT-PCR was used to amplify and determine the TCR gene spectrotypes, and to analyze the clonality of abnormal cells. Sirolimus was first given to patients who did not gain efficacy from common agents. The results showed that lymphocytosis happened in all LGLL patients, but patients from West countries always displayed neutropenia while Chinese patients always displayed anemia. In 2 out of 4 patients from our hospital, the large granular lymphocytes (LGL) were difficult to be distinguished. In all 4 patients, almost all lymphocytes were CD3(+), CD8(+), and TCR&alpha;/&beta;(+). TCR BV 24 gene family clones showed monoclonal TRBV 23, TRBV 20, TRBV 13.6, and TRBV 13.6, respectively. FCM results were consistent with those of RT-PCR. When 4 patients had been given sirolimus (6 mg first dose, 2 mg once a day) for about 1 week, hemoglobin level and reticulocyte count increased significantly without any serious side effects. It is concluded that the detection of specific lymphocyte monoclonal TCR BV 24 gene family by FCM contributes to the diagnosis of LGLL. Sirolimus is an effective agent without serious side effect for LGLL patients, especially for patients who cannot tolerate common drugs.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunogenetics ; Leukemia, Large Granular Lymphocytic ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta ; genetics ; Sirolimus ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between T cell receptor constant alpha chain (TCRC&alpha;) gene +1592C/T polymorphism and IgA nephropathy.

METHODSTCRC&alpha; +1592C/T genotypes were identified by PCR-RFLP and direct sequencing in 244 Chinese Han patients with IgA nephropathy, who were classified according to their genotype into CC (188 cases), CT (54 cases) and TT (2 cases) groups. The clinical and pathological data of the patients were analyzed in relation to the TCRC&alpha; +1592C/T genotypes.

RESULTSNo significant differences in the clinical and biochemical indices were found in these patients with different TCRC&alpha; gene +1592C/T genotypes. TCRC&alpha; +1592C/T polymorphism was not found to contribute to severity or manifestations of renal pathology.

CONCLUSIONSTCRC&alpha;+1592C/T polymorphism may not be associated with the susceptibility to IgA nephropathy in the Chinese Han population.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Child ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14 ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; genetics ; Humans ; Kidney ; pathology ; Male ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the significance of detecting TCR gene clonal rearrangement in the diagnosis of mycosis fungoides (MF) and to optimize the primers used for detecting the TCR gene clonal rearrangement with PCR in paraffin embedded tissues of MF.

METHODSNineteen cases of MF were enrolled into the study. A panel of 10 antibodies were used for immunophenotypic analysis and polymerase chain reaction for TCR-γ and TCR-&beta; gene rearrangement detection in this study.

RESULTSTCR gene clonal rearrangements were detected in all 19 cases, in which 84.2% cases (16/19) had TCR-γ gene clonal rearrangements. The positive rates of the primers T(VG)/T(JX), V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) and BIOMED-2-TCR-γ were 47.4%, 78.9% and 31.6%, respectively. The positive rate of V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) was statistically significantly higher than that of T(VG)/T(JX) and BIOMED-2-TCR-γ (P < 0.05). No TCR gene clonal rearrangement was detected using the primers V(γ11)/V(γ101)/Jγ12 and V(γ11)/V(γ101)/J(p12). TCR-&beta; gene clonal rearrangement was detected in 31.6% (6/19) cases.

CONCLUSIONSTCR gene clonal rearrangement analysis is a useful tool in the diagnosis of MF and TCR-γ gene is a good target gene for the detection. The primers T(VG)/T(JX), V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) and BIOMED-2-TCR-γ can be used in clinicopathologic detection for TCR gene clonal rearrangement and V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) may be the first choice.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antigens, CD7 ; metabolism ; Base Sequence ; CD2 Antigens ; metabolism ; CD3 Complex ; metabolism ; CD4 Antigens ; metabolism ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; Humans ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mycosis Fungoides ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Paraffin Embedding ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta ; genetics ; Skin Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Young Adult

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells develop in the thymus upon recognition of CD1d expressed on developing thymocytes. Although CD4 and CD8 coreceptors are not directly involved in the interaction between CD1d and the T cell receptors (TCRs) of iNKT cells, a conspicuous lack of CD8+ iNKT cells in mice raised the question of whether CD8+ iNKT cells are excluded due to negative selection during their thymic development, or if there is no lineage commitment for the development of murine CD8+ iNKT cells. To address this question, we analyzed iNKT cell-specific TCR Valpha14+ transgenic mice, where the Valpha14 transgene forces the generation of iNKT cells. This allows detailed study of the iNKT cell repertoire. We were able to identify CD8+ iNKT cells which respond to the NKT cell-specific glycolipid ligand alpha-galactosylceramide. Unlike conventional iNKT cells, CD8+ iNKT cells produce predominantly IFN-gamma but not IL-4 upon antigen stimulation. We also confirmed the presence of CD8+ iNKT cells in wild type mice. Our results suggest that CD8+ NKT cells do exist in mice, although their population size is quite small. Their Th1-skewed phenotype might explain why the population size of this subtype needs to be controlled tightly.
Animals ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/*immunology/metabolism ; Galactosylceramides/immunology ; Interferon-gamma/immunology ; Interleukin-4/immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice, Transgenic ; Natural Killer T-Cells/*immunology/metabolism ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/*genetics ; Transgenes