title: The biased V gamma gene usage in the synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Taking advantage of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), we have analyzed T cell receptor gamma-chain mRNA of synovial fluid gamma/delta T cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in comparison with those of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from RA patients and healthy individuals. The quantitative RT-PCR method in conjunction with nucleotide sequencing revealed the frequent usage of the V gamma 3 gene segment in RA synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMC) (p < 0.01) which in PBMC of healthy individuals occurred rarely. PBMC of most healthy individuals expressed the V gamma 9 gene predominantly (p < 0.01) as expected. However, only half of RA patients showed elevated levels of the V gamma 9 gene expression in their PBMC. The gamma-chain mRNA containing the V gamma 3 gene in RA SFMC showed no conserved junctional sequence (complementarity-determining region 3). To investigate the nature of ligands recognized by the V gamma 3-bearing T cells, we analyzed V gamma gene usage of RA SFMC, RA PBMC, and normal PBMC stimulated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) or MT plus interleukin-2 since there is mounting evidence of high reactivity of RA SFMC to MT and mycobacterial heat-shock protein 65. However, the V gamma usage appeared to be mostly V gamma 9 in RA SFMC, RA PBMC and normal PBMC. Taken together these results suggest that an as yet unknown antigen(s) (other than MT) might select gamma/delta T cells expressing the V gamma 3 gene in RA SFMC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kageyama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koide
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006073:Gout / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics*; D013582:Synovial Fluid / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta