Restricted usage of T-cell receptor Valpha-Vbeta genes in infiltrating cells in the aortic tissue of a patient with atherosclerotic aortic aneurysm.
We report a rare case of an atherosclerotic aortic aneurysm with lymphocyte infiltration in which T-cell receptor (TCR) Valpha as well as Vbeta gene usage was restricted. Immunohistochemical studies showed that the infiltrating cells mainly consisted of macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and T-helper (Th) cells, and that there were almost no infiltrating delta T lymphocytes, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and 65-kD heat-shock protein (HSP-65) was not strongly expressed in the aortic tissue. Although the immunohistochemical data were consistent with an ordinary atherosclerotic aortic aneurysm, in which TCR Valpha-Vbeta gene usage is known to be polyclonal, the restricted TCR gene usage suggests that a certain autoimmune mechanism was involved in the pathogenesis of this case similar to Takayasu's arteritis, in which massive infiltration of delta T lymphocytes and strong expression of HSP-65 in the aortic tissue are characteristic.
Seko
Y
Y
Third Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Takahashi
N
N
Sato
O
O
Takagi
A
A
Yagita
H
H
Okumura
K
K
Yazaki
Y
Y
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D018833:Chaperonins / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; C074119:heat-shock protein 65, Mycobacterium; D018833:Chaperonins