Polyclonal use of T-cell receptor alpha for human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1-infected T cells.
OBJECTIVE
To understand better the immunopathology of HTLV-I uveitis by investigating the clonality of HTLV-I-infected T-cell clones.


METHODS
Eleven T-cell clones were established from the aqueous humor (six clones) and the peripheral blood (five clones) of a patient with HTLV-I uveitis, and the clonality of the HTLV-I-infected T cells was investigated by sequencing the T-cell receptor (TCR) alpha gene after the amplification of TCR alpha cDNA using an adaptor-ligation method and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).


RESULTS
TCR alpha use was different for each of 11 T-cell clones, encompassing eight different HTLV-I-infected T-cell clones (four from the aqueous humor and four from peripheral blood) and three HTLV-I-negative T-cell clones.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated polyclonal use of TCR alpha for HTLV-I-infected T cells in the ocular lesion and the peripheral blood. Results suggested that these T cells are not precursors of the leukemic cells associated with malignant transformation. Instead, they might be randomly infected with HTLV-I in the process of HTLV-I uveitis.
Masuoka
K
K
Department of Immunology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
Sagawa
K
K
Mochizuki
M
M
Oizumi
K
K
Itoh
K
K
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002999:Clone Cells; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D014605:Uveitis / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology
D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D004247:DNA