title: T-cell receptor (TCR) usage in Lewis rat experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis: TCR beta-chain-variable-region V beta 8.2-positive T cells are not essential for induction and course of disease.
abstract: Predominant usage of V beta 8.2 gene segments, encoding a T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chain variable region, has been reported for pathogenic Lewis rat T cells reactive to myelin basic protein (MBP). However, up to 75% of the alpha/beta T cells in a panel of MBP-specific T-cell lines did not display TCR V beta 8.2, V beta 8.5, V beta 10, or V beta 16 elements. To further investigate TCR usage, we sorted the T-cell lines for V beta 8.2- and V beta 10-positive T cells or depleted the lines of cells with these TCRs. V beta 8.2-positive T cells and one of the depleted T-cell lines strongly reacted against the MBP peptide MBP-(68-88). The depleted T-cell line caused marked experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) even in Lewis rats in which endogenous V beta 8.2-positive T cells had been eliminated by neonatal treatment with anti-V beta 8.2 monoclonal antibodies. T-cell hybridomas generated from this line predominantly used V beta 3 TCR genes coexpressed with TCR V alpha 2 transcripts, which were also used by V beta 8.2-positive T cells. Furthermore, V beta 10-positive T cells reactive to MBP-(44-67) were encephalitogenic when injected immediately after positive selection. After induction of EAE by sorted V beta 8.2- or V beta 10-positive T-cell lines, immunocytochemical analysis of the spinal cord tissue showed a predominance of the injected TCR or of nontypable alpha/beta T cells after injection of the depleted line. Our results demonstrate heterogeneity of TCR beta-chain usage even for a single autoantigen in an inbred strain. Moreover, V beta 8.2-positive T cells are not essential for the induction and progression of adoptive-transfer EAE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giegerich
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Hartung
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Toyka
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000276:immunology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015870:Gene Expression; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D051379:Mice / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta