title: [Quantitation of antigen specific T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis using tetramer technology].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantitate antigen specific T lymphocytes in peripheral blood from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis(PBC) and study the role of antigen specific T lymphocytes in the development of PBC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using tetramers and CD8 monoclonal antibody staining, PDC-E2 159-167aa and PDC-E2 165-174aa specific CD8(+) T lymphocytes were determined respectively in the peptide-induced cytotoxic T cell lines prepared from peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) of 15 PBC patients. The frequencies of these two kinds of antigen specific T lymphocytes in HLA-A*0201 positive (A2(+)) PBC were compared with those in A2(-) PBC patients, patients with other A2(+) chronic liver diseases and healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PDC-E2 159-167aa/HLA-A*0201 and PDC-E2 165-174aa/HLA-A*0201 tetramer positive CD8(+) T lymphocytes were detected in all of A2(+) PBC patients with average percentages of 0.42%+/-0.24% (0.17%-1.08%) and 0.27%+/-0.17% (0.05%-0.56%), respectively. The frequencies of the two kinds of antigen specific CD8(+) T lymphocytes from peripheral blood were significantly higher in earlier stages I and II of PBC as compared with stage III (P<0.001), while no difference was found between PDC-E2 159-167aa and PDC-E2 165-174aa specific CD8(+) T lymphocytes at the same stages. In addition, there existed no statistical difference between frequencies of antigen specific T lymphocytes in AMA or anti-PDC positive and negative PBC patients (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that HLA-A*0201 restricted PDC-E2 165-174aa and PDC-E2 159-167aa specific CTL play important roles in the development of PBC, and there might be a similar mechanism of T cell-mediated damage between AMA or anti-PDC positive and negative PBC patients.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory, General Hospital of Guangzhou, Guangzhou 510010, China. xiangliuhaiying@21cn.com
authors.forename: Hai-ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: An-mei
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Hong-lian
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: De-xing
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ren-qian
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology*; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015234:HLA-A Antigens