S. Wong et al., ANALYSIS OF THE PERIPHERAL T-CELL RECEPTOR V-BETA REPERTOIRE IN NEWLY-DIAGNOSED PATIENTS WITH TYPE-I DIABETES, Autoimmunity, 18(1), 1994, pp. 77-83
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
.