title: The diversity of T-cell receptor repertoire of peripheral CD4+ lymphocytes in LEC mutant rats.
abstract: A novel mutant strain of rats, LEC, exhibits an arrest of T-cell maturation from CD4+CD8+ to CD4+CD8- but not the CD4-CD8+ cells in the thymus. Nevertheless, CD4+T cells arise in lymph nodes of LEC rats, implying extrathymic T-cell maturation. We analyzed the variable (V) and junctional region diversity of T-cell receptor (TCR) beta- chains in this population, since several reports have provided evidence that extrathymically matured T cells exhibit a biased expression of the TCR repertoire. CD4+ T cells in LEC rat lymph nodes exhibited a polymorphic V beta gene expression pattern. However, biased V beta gene expression was not identified in peripheral CD4+ T cells of LEC rats when compared with V beta gene expression in their thymocytes. Furthermore, junctional regions of TCR beta chains exhibited a vast diversity created by non-germline- encoded nucleotide (N nucleotide) additions. These results indicate that peripheral CD4+ T cells in LEC rats possess a vast diversity in the TCR repertoire as do thymocytes of the same rat, suggesting that they derive from the thymus.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Animal Experimentation, University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Agui
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015870:Gene Expression; D008198:Lymph Nodes; D008643:Mesentery; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics*; D013950:Thymus Gland
chemical_list: D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta