title: Conserved CDR 3 region of T cell receptor BV gene in lymphocytes from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
abstract: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an inflammatory lung disease characterized by the accumulation of inflammatory cells and deposition of collagen, resulting in lung remodelling. High numbers of T cells are present in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of IPF patients, although the characteristics of these cells are yet to be determined. To elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms of IPF, we analysed the T cell receptor (TCR) of BALF lymphocytes in three patients with IPF and three healthy subjects as control. TCR repertoire of BALF lymphocytes and T cell clonality were examined by family PCR and Southern blot analysis, and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), respectively. We observed that the TCR repertoire in the lung was heterogeneous, both in the control subjects and three patients with IPF. SSCP analysis demonstrated an increase in the number of accumulated T cell clones in BALF of two of the three patients, but not in the healthy subject. Furthermore, junctional sequence analysis showed the presence of conserved amino acid motifs (ETGRSG, LAxG, QGQ, GxQP, GRxG, VAR, PGT, GTI, GGT, TGR, LxLxQ, SGQ) in the TCR-CDR 3 region of BAL lymphocytes in patients with IPF, whereas only two amino acid motifs (VTTG, GGE) were found in the control. Our findings suggest that T cells in BALF of patients with IPF expand oligoclonally in the lung, suggesting antigen stimulation of these cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimizudani
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Keino
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kojo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morishima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekisawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sumida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sumida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000276:immunology*; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000737:chemistry; D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions; D018076:DNA, Complementary