TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence of a diverse T cell receptor repertoire for acetylcholine receptor, the autoantigen of myasthenia gravis
AU - Infante, Anthony J.
AU - Baillargeon, Jacques
AU - Kraig, Ellen
AU - Lott, Lisa
AU - Jackson, Carlayne
AU - Hämmerling, Gunter J.
AU - Raju, Raghavanpillai
AU - David, Chella
PY - 2003/9
Y1 - 2003/9
N2 - We utilized two methods to look for T cell clonal expansions in myasthenia gravis (MG). We analyzed TCRBV CDR3 length polymorphism (spectratyping) to look for evidence of clonal expansion of CD4 or CD8 T cells directly from peripheral blood of MG patients. No statistically significant differences were found between the diversity of TCR repertoires in MG patients compared to normal control individuals when analyzed as groups. Rare oligoclonal expansions were detected in some individual MG patients but the significance of these findings is unclear. Next, we analyzed a panel of T cell hybridomas from acetylcholine receptor (AChR) immunized, MG-susceptible HLA-DR3 transgenic mice. The epitope specificity, TCRBV gene usage and CDR3 sequences of these hybridomas were highly diverse. We conclude there is only limited evidence for restricted TCR repertoire usage in human MG and suggest this may be due to the inability of HLA-DR molecules to select for restricted TCR recognition of AChR epitopes.
AB - We utilized two methods to look for T cell clonal expansions in myasthenia gravis (MG). We analyzed TCRBV CDR3 length polymorphism (spectratyping) to look for evidence of clonal expansion of CD4 or CD8 T cells directly from peripheral blood of MG patients. No statistically significant differences were found between the diversity of TCR repertoires in MG patients compared to normal control individuals when analyzed as groups. Rare oligoclonal expansions were detected in some individual MG patients but the significance of these findings is unclear. Next, we analyzed a panel of T cell hybridomas from acetylcholine receptor (AChR) immunized, MG-susceptible HLA-DR3 transgenic mice. The epitope specificity, TCRBV gene usage and CDR3 sequences of these hybridomas were highly diverse. We conclude there is only limited evidence for restricted TCR repertoire usage in human MG and suggest this may be due to the inability of HLA-DR molecules to select for restricted TCR recognition of AChR epitopes.
KW - Acetylcholine receptor
KW - Clonal expansion
KW - Myasthenia gravis
KW - T cell receptor repertoire diversity
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U2 - 10.1016/S0896-8411(03)00086-6
DO - 10.1016/S0896-8411(03)00086-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 12935786
AN - SCOPUS:0042520847
SN - 0896-8411
VL - 21
SP - 167
EP - 174
JO - Journal of Autoimmunity
JF - Journal of Autoimmunity
IS - 2
ER -