V-REGION T-CELL RECEPTOR REPERTOIRE IN PARKINSONS-DISEASE

Introduction - Restricted usage of V alpha and beta genes has been fou nd in several diseases, which exert autoreactive T cells. So far no in formation on T cell receptor (TCR) usage in degenerative diseases is a vailable. Since T cells may be involved in pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, the analysis of the TCR repertoire is of importance. Materia l and methods - We have tested the frequency of 6 V beta-subtypes and the most common V alpha-subfamily on peripheral blood lymphocytes in 2 1 PD patients and 20 controls, separately on CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells . For our study Diversi - T-TM, the first available Mab set specific f or TCR V regions, was used. Results - As a results, no significant dif ferences were found with one exception, i.e., lower frequency of V bet a 8(a) expression on CD8(+) T cells in PD patients than in controls. C onclusion - The failure of preferential usage or lack of usage of the tested V-chain alleles by CD4(+) T cells argues against an involvement of helper T cells in PD induction.