HETEROGENEITY OF REARRANGED T-CELL RECEPTOR V-ALPHA AND V-BETA GENE TRANSCRIPTS IN SYNOVIAL-FLUID T-CELLS OF HLA-B27 POSITIVE REACTIVE ARTHRITIS PATIENTS

SElmmaly To analyze the T cell receptor (TCR) V-alpha/beta gene usage by synovial fluid (SF) and peripheral blood (PB) T cells of HLA-B27(+) reactive arthritis (ReA) patients. The TCR V-alpha/beta gene usage wa s determined by the polymerase chain reaction on freshly isolated SF a nd PB mononuclear cells (MNC) of five HLA-B27(+) ReA patients. A total of 30 TCR V alpha and 23 V beta (sub)family specific primers in combi nation with a C alpha or C beta specific primer, respectively, were us ed. In five patients most of the TCR V alpha and V beta gene segments expressed by PB T cells were also detected in the paired SF samples. A lthough one patient showed an increased expression of TCR V alpha 2 in SF when compared to PB, the SF samples showed a heterogeneous TCR V-g ene repertoire similar to PB. Although this study was limited to a sma ll group of patients, the apparent lack of a restricted TCR V-gene rep ertoire in SF does not support the involvement of a single or limited number of T cell subsets in the disease process of HLA-B27(+) ReA pati ents.