title: Preferential expansion of Vgamma9-JgammaP/Vdelta2-Jdelta3 gammadelta T cells in nasal T-cell lymphoma and chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection.
abstract: We recently established an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive gammadelta T-cell line from a nasal T/natural killer (NK)-cell lymphoma (Nagata H, Konno A, Kimura N, Zhang Y, Kimura M, Demachi A, Sekine T, Yamamoto K, Shimizu N: Characterization of novel natural killer (NK)-cell and gammadelta T-cell lines established from primary lesions of nasal T/NK-cell lymphomas associated with the Epstein-Barr virus. Blood 2001, 97:708-713). Subsequently, we established two novel EBV-positive gammadelta T-cell lines from the peripheral blood of patients with chronic active EBV infection. Analysis of the terminal repeat of EBV showed that the three cell lines consisted of monoclonal populations, and flow cytometry showed that they had a common phenotype of gammadelta T cells: CD3(+) CD4(-) CD8(-) CD16(-) CD19(-) CD56(+) CD57(-) HLA-DR(+) T-cell receptor (TCR) alphabeta(-) TCR gammadelta(+). Analysis for the expression of TCR by flow cytometry showed that all three cell lines were Vgamma9(+)/Vdelta2(+), but negative for VgammaI, Vdelta1, or Vdelta3 TCR. Southern blot analysis for TCR genes showed that the three cell lines had a common rearrangement of Vgamma9-JgammaP and Jdelta3 genes. Polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis of the junction between Vdelta and Jdelta genes revealed that the Jdelta3 genes were rearranged with the Vdelta2 genes. In contrast, none of the EBV-negative gammadelta T-cell lines, Molt-14, Peer, or Loucy, which were analyzed for controls, had Vgamma9 or Vdelta2 TCR, or a rearrangement of Jdelta3 genes. These results indicated that Vgamma9-JgammaP/Vdelta2-Jdelta3(+) gammadelta T cells were preferentially affected by EBV and expanded in patients with nasal gammadelta T-cell lymphoma and chronic active EBV infection. Jdelta3(+) gammadelta T cells are known to be a very minor population in gammadelta T cells of peripheral blood, whereas Vgamma9-JgammaP/Vdelta2-Jdelta1(+) cells are the major population. The close association of EBV with this particular gammadelta T-cell population may provide a key to the etiology of EBV-positive lymphoproliferative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiko K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Oyoshi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demachi
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kanegane
authors.forename: Yoshinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morio
authors.forename: Atsuyoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Kohtaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D017931:DNA Primers; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D016694:Gene Rearrangement, delta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D015334:Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D017931:DNA Primers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta