ANALYSIS OF THE PERIPHERAL T-CELL RECEPTOR V-BETA REPERTOIRE IN NEWLY-DIAGNOSED PATIENTS WITH TYPE-I DIABETES

Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterised by a marked act ivation of peripheral T cells around the time of clinical diagnosis. S tudies of T-cell antigen receptor Vbeta (TCRBV) gene usage in type I d iabetes have been conflicting. Usng a semi-quantitative polymerase cha in reaction technique and flow cytometry we have investigated the TCRB V gene usage of 13 newly diagnosed patients with type I diabetes and 1 1 normal healthy controls. No preferential TCRBV gene usage was found between patients and controls even after matching for HLA-DR3 and/or - DR4. In addition, no significant differences in TCRBV gene usage were found between sequential samples taken over a period of up to 7 months following diagnosis. These results suggest that the TCR repertoire of these patients is heterogeneous and it is unlikely that a single 'pat hogenic' T-cell clone is dominant at the clinical onset of the disease .