THE INFLUENCE OF A RECOMBINANT-HBSAG VACCINE ON THE REPERTOIRE OF TRANSCRIBED T-CELL RECEPTOR B-CHAIN VARIABLE REGION GENES IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD IN HUMANS

The purpose of this study was to determine whether in vivo changes in the repertoire of Tcr beta chain variable region (V beta) genes could be detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells after immunization o f humans with recombinant hepatitis B virus envelope protein (rHBsAg). We measured the percentage of Tcr RNA transcripts carrying each of 20 V beta genes in human PBMC before and after immunization with rHBsAg in Polynesians (8 non-immunized controls, 26 immunized subjects) and E uropeans (9 non-immunized controls, 11 immunized subjects). The per ce nt of RNA transcripts containing V beta 7.4 family genes was increased in immunized vs control Polynesian (+1.6+/-0.5% vs -1.1+/-0.3%, P=0.0 002) and European (+1.6+/-0.6% vs -0.1+/-0.5%, P=0.05) subjects at 48 h and 28 h post-immunization, respectively. No changes in VP repertoir e were found after 48 h in either race. Thus, there is a transient inc rease infrequency of T cells with Tcr containing V beta 7.4 family gen es within 48 h of an immunization containing rHBsAg in humans. There a re a number of explanations for this finding, including the possibilit y that V beta 7.4 gene family products may be preferentially involved in the primary immune response to HBsAg. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier S cience Ltd.