Pt. Straten et al., DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ALPHA-BETA-T-CELL CLONALITY BY DENATURING GRADIENT GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS (DGGE), BioTechniques, 25(2), 1998, pp. 244-250
Accumulation of T cells carrying identical T-cell,receptors (TCR) is a
ssociated with a number of immunological and nonimmunological diseases
. Therefore, it is of interest to be able to analyze complex T-cell po
pulations for the presence of clonally expanded subpopulations. Here,
we describe a simple method combining reverse transcription (RT)-PCR a
nd denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DCGE) for rapid detection
and characterization of T-ceIl clonality The detection of clonality ex
panded T cells by DGGE relies on the fact that clonal transcripts have
no junctional diversity and therefore resolve at a fixed position in
the gel,,which is determined by their melting properties. I;br polyclo
nal populations with a high degree of junctional diversity the differe
nt DNA molecules will resolve at different positions in the gel and to
gether,will be revealed a smear. For each of the TCR beta-variable gen
e (BV)1-24 families, cloned transcripts were amplified and shown to re
solve as distinct bands in the denaturing gradient gel,,whereas the an
alysis of polyclonal T-cell populations resulted in a smear in the gel
. The present method might prove useful to test for clonotypic T-cells
in a variety of pathological and physiological conditions and for, mo
nitoring T-cell responses in diagnostic and therapeutic settings.