BIASED T-CELL RECEPTOR V-BETA GENE USAGE DURING SPECIFIC STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOIMMUNE SIALADENITIS IN THE MRL LPR MOUSE MODEL OFSJOGRENS-SYNDROME/
Y. Hayashi et al., BIASED T-CELL RECEPTOR V-BETA GENE USAGE DURING SPECIFIC STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOIMMUNE SIALADENITIS IN THE MRL LPR MOUSE MODEL OFSJOGRENS-SYNDROME/, Arthritis and rheumatism, 38(8), 1995, pp. 1077-1084
Objective. To analyze the repertoire of T cell receptor (TCR) V-beta g
enes transcribed and expressed within the autoimmune lesions of the sa
livary gland in the MRL/lpr mouse model of Sjogren's syndrome, Methods
. Monoclonal antibodies (MAb) were used to determine the prevalence of
selected V gene elements on T cell infiltrates from salivary glands o
f MRL/lpr mice. To analyze TCR V-beta gene usage, we used reverse-tran
scriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and single-strand conform
ational polymorphism (SSCP) analyses. Results, A predominance of V-bet
a 8+ T cells was detected within the inflammatory lesions during devel
opment of autoimmune disease (confirmed by flow cytometry), RT-PCR ana
lysis revealed that in autoimmune sialadenitis, the predominant expres
sion of the V-beta 8 gene segment began in the early stages of disease
(2-month-old mice) and increased over time. Extensive age-related div
ersity of TCR V-beta gene usage was also observed, SSCP analysis demon
strated a distinct and common binding pattern of the V-beta 8 gene PCR
product from the cell infiltrates during the course of the disease. C
onclusion, Our data suggest that in the MRL/Ipr mouse model of Sjogren
's syndrome, there is restricted usage of TCR V-beta elements accordin
g to the stage of the disease, and that V-beta 8 are probably used pre
ferentially in the recognition of a single unknown self antigen in the
salivary gland.