[Characteristics of CDR3 of TCR beta on CD8+ T cells in chronic hepatitis B patients].

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics of CDR3 of TCRbeta on CD8+ T cells in chronic hepatitis B patients. METHODS: Eight patients with chronic hepatitis B (ALT more than 2 ULN) were enrolled in this study. CD8+ T cells were isolated from peripheral blood. RT-PCR was proformed to amplify the CDR3 of TCRbeta, and the PCR products were sequenced and analyzed. RESULTS: The chronic hepatitis B patients showed obvious clonal expansion of T cell, and three perturbation patterns of T cell expansion were showed in the CDR3 of TCRbeta, including monoclonicity, oligoclonicity and skewed peak patterns. The number of perturbation families of CD8+ subpopulation was significantly higher than that of CD8- subpopulation (10.6+/-4.7 vs. 4.1+/-3.1, t = 6.619, P less than 0.01). In 3 out of 8 patients, the number of perturbation families of CD8+ subpopulation was also higher than that of PBMCs without depleting CD8+ subpopulation. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics of CDR3 of TCRbeta may help to understand the inflammatory response in CHB patients.