title: Quantitation of T-cell receptor V beta chain expression on lymphocytes from blood, brain, and spinal fluid in patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases.
abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system in which large numbers of T cells enter the brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). To determine whether these cells represent restricted populations, we studied expression of T-cell receptor V beta chains on paired samples from the central nervous system and blood of patients with MS or other neurological diseases (OND) using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The distribution of V beta chain expression in blood was skewed, with a significant preponderance of message from V beta genes 1 through 8 (p = 0.0001). Such skewing was not present in samples from the CSF and brain. Patterns of V beta gene expression were different among paired samples from spinal fluid and blood and were relatively heterogeneous. Blood and CSF samples from a patient with acute meningitis were studied on two separate occasions. The patterns of V beta expression changed over 72 hours in both the blood and the CSF. With one exception, no oligoclonal populations of T cells were observed nor were there disease-specific patterns of V beta gene expression in the blood or CSF. Samples from 2 MS brains and 1 OND brain expressed patterns of V beta genes that were different and less heterogeneous than those in paired blood. In addition, expression of V beta 12 was remarkably increased in the 2 MS brains, suggesting a selective recruitment or expansion of T cells expressing this gene. These data demonstrate that populations of T cells from blood, spinal fluid, and brain differ from one another and can fluctuate during periods of acute inflammation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Birnbaum
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Ness
mesh_terms: D001773:Blood Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta