title: Restriction of T-cell receptor repertoires in idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia.
abstract: We report that alpha/beta and gamma/delta T-cell repertoires of three patients with idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia, who showed different clinical manifestations and outcomes over time, were highly restricted. The disruption of T-cell repertoires does not influence the susceptibility to infections: the first patient was unable to attain a protective response to mycobacterium, the second showed clinical improvement and the third did not develop opportunistic infections. These results indicate that idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia could give rise to mono-/oligoclonal T-cell expansions, but the degree of repertoire disturbance is not indicative of the severity of disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Terzo Laboratorio Analisi, Spedali Civili and Institute of Chemistry, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Signorini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pirovano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fiorentini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stellini
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albertini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Imberti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020180:Heteroduplex Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000150:complications; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology*; D016201:Receptors, Lymphocyte Homing / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018344:T-Lymphocytopenia, Idiopathic CD4-Positive / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D016201:Receptors, Lymphocyte Homing