title: [Deep sequencing of the T cell receptor Vb CDR3 repertoire of peripheral CD4+T cells in primary biliary cirrhosis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the immune repertoires of peripheral CD4+T cell receptor (TCR) Vb CDR3 in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and analyze TCR diversity and preferred usage at sequence-level resolution.
  
  
  METHODS
  ARM-PCR and high-throughput sequencing were used to obtain millions of TCR Vb CDR3 sequences from peripheral CD4+T cells isolated from 7 patients with PBC and healthy volunteers. All sequencing data were analyzed, together with corresponding clinical information, by bioinformatic software. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PBC patients showed a lower level of diversity among the peripheral CD4+TCR Vb CDR3 than the healthy volunteers, and patients with higher level progression of the disease showed a greater lack of diversity. In addition, 4 specific preferred-usage amino acid sequences were discovered for the PBC patients: ASSFTGGPVEQY, ASSLISSGNNEQF, ATSRDTLAGGPGDTQY, and SASLEGNTEAF; these sequences were also found in higher frequencies in patients with later stages of PBC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Decreased TCR Vb CDR3 diversities and specific preferred usage of TCR CDR3 sequences in peripheral CD4+T lymphocytes in PBC suggest that clonal expansion of a large number of CD4+T cells may be an important factor for PBC progression. These data provide a better understanding about the general characteristics of CD4+T cells in PBC patients and related to pathogenesis of the disease, and may provide useful insights into potential targets for immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou 510180, China.
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Qihuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Fatao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kankan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Shuyin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Yihao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Haiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
chemical_list: D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell