title: T cell receptor repertoire differences between African Americans and Caucasians associated with polymorphism of the TCRBV3S1 (V beta 3.1) gene.
abstract: The generation of TCR diversity occurs primarily through rearrangement of germline DNA. Genetic polymorphism of the TCR chains appears to be a rarer mechanism for generating repertoire differences between races. Flow cytometric analysis of the TCR V beta repertoire in a population of healthy African Americans (n = 30) and Caucasians (n = 30) revealed a significant difference in the frequency of cells bearing V beta 3.1, but not V beta 2, V beta 5.1, V beta 5.2-5.3, V beta 6.7, V beta 8.1-8.2, V beta 12.1, V beta 13.3, or V beta 19. African Americans had a significantly lower frequency of V beta 3.1+ cells, in both the CD4+ (2.55 +/- 0.36% vs 4.85 +/- 0.43%, p = 0.0001) and the CD8+ (3.03 +/- 0.54% vs 5.32 +/- 0.57%, p = 0.004) population than did Caucasians, and this difference was independent of the age of the individuals. Analysis of genomic DNA revealed that the observed difference in frequency of V beta 3.1+ cells correlated with a recently described polymorphism of the recombination signal sequence of the TCRBV3S1 gene. Allele 1, associated with a lower frequency of V beta 3.1+ cells, was more commonly present in African Americans (0.68 vs 0.43), whereas allele 2, associated with a higher frequency of V beta 3.1+ cells, was more commonly present in Caucasians (0.31 vs 0.56). This study demonstrates the potential for TCR repertoire differences, based on genetic polymorphism, between African Americans and Caucasians.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Inocencio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Glass
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hirsch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*; D001741:Black or African American
chemical_list: D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta