EXPRESSION OF T-CELL RECEPTOR V-BETA-2, V-BETA-6 AND V-BETA-8 GENE FAMILIES IN CHRONIC ADULT PERIODONTAL-DISEASE

Substantial evidence exists to suggest a role for T-cells in periodont al disease. As yet, however, the T-cell receptors remain to be charact erised at the molecular level. The expression and the nucleotide seque nce of genes from the T-cell receptor beta variable (TCRBV) gene famil ies 2, 6 and 8 were analyzed in periodontal tissue from 24 patients wi th chronic adult periodontal disease (CAPD) and peripheral blood lymph ocytes (PBL) of 16 of these patients. A restriction in the expression of these TCRBV gene families was detected in periodontal tissue from 1 4/24 patients with CAPD, and the pattern of gene expression was often different between individual patients; however there was no restrictio n in TCRBV gene expression in matched PBL samples from 8 of these 14 p atients. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of samples from 5 CAPD patients who expressed all 3 TCRBV gene families in their periodontal tissues d id not reveal any significant differences in the levels of gene expres sion in periodontal tissue and PBL. In contrast to the findings with s ome CAPD patients, genes from all 3 TCRBV families were always express ed in periodontal tissue and PBL from disease-free control subjects. P CR products from both the PBL and periodontal tissue of CAPD patients were cloned and sequenced; analysis of the nucleotide sequence reveale d diversity with respect to the expression of TCRB joining (TCRBJ) and TCRB diversity (TCRBD) genes and the sequence of the junctional regio n in all samples analysed. In conclusion, in CAPD, the pattern of TCRB V gene expression in periodontal tissue is often but not always differ ent from that in PBL and healthy periodontal tissue, which may indicat e, in some cases, a local influence on particular T-cell subsets which is relevant to the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. However, the expressed TCRB genes are heterogeneous at the nucleotide level, emphas ising the underlying complexity at the molecular level in the local T- cell response in CAPD.