[Analysis of T cell receptor BV dominant usage and CDR3 sequences during acute exacerbation in patients with chronic hepatitis B].

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To understand the role cellular immunology plays in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) through analysis of T cell receptor (TCR) beta chain variable region gene (BV) family dominant usage and beta chain complementarity determining region3 (CDR3) sequences of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the patients. METHODS: TCR BV families were amplified by inverse polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the dominant usage of BV families and CDR3 repertoire were analyzed by immunoscope technology for 8 CHB patients during their acute exacerbations and for 4 healthy blood donors who served as controls. The clonality of the T cells suspected by immunoscope was further confirmed by CDR3 sequencing. RESULTS: The TCR BV CDR3 repertoire of the 4 healthy blood donors showed a Gaussian distribution. In the 8 CHB patients, however, the clonal expansion of T cells showed different TCR BV families with each patient. The T cells of the clonal expansion shared different CDR3 sequences. CONCLUSION: The peripheral blood T cells of CHB patients during their acute exacerbation showed significantly a clonal expansion and their T cell clonal expansion may be stimulated by several HBV epitopes. These results indicate that cellular immunology is involved in the pathogenesis of the liver inflammation process of CHB.