Elsevier

Journal of Neuroimmunology

Volume 15, Issue 3, July–August 1987, Pages 243-249
Journal of Neuroimmunology

Research paper
Analysis of T cell receptor-gene rearrangement in T cells from the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis

https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-5728(87)90119-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Characterization of T cells present in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) may contribute to an understanding of the immunopathologic role of these cells. To analyze the T cells in the CSF of MS patients, 30 cloned T cell lines from each of two MS patients were surveyed for their patterns of T cell receptor (TcR) β-chain gene rearrangement. DNA from the (CSF-derived) T cell clones was digested with a number of restriction endonucleases and the gene rearrangement patterns were analyzed with a T cell receptor β-chain probe. Southern blot analysis of the DNA of these T cell clones indicated that all had rearrangements of the TcR β-chain genes, but none of the rearrangements were identical. These results suggest that, if a few clones of specific T cells are involved, they must form a tiny minority in comparison to the total number of T cells in the CSF of MS patients.

References (24)

  • B. Fleischer et al.

    Clonal expansion and functional analysis of virus-specific T lymphocytes from cerebrospinal fluid in measles encephalitis

    Hum. Immunol.

    (1983)
  • O.R. Hommes et al.

    T-cell subsets in spinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients

    J. Neuroimmunol.

    (1984)
  • E.M. Southern

    Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis

    J. Mol. Biol.

    (1975)
  • A.S. Bellamy et al.

    The distribution of interleukin-2 receptor bearing lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis: evidence for a key role of activated lymphocytes

    Clin. Exp. Immunol.

    (1985)
  • N. Cashman et al.

    Monoclonal antibody-defined immunoregulatory cells in multiple sclerosis cerebrospinal fluid

    J. Clin. Invest.

    (1982)
  • A.C. DeFreitas et al.

    Regulation of interleukin-2 receptors on T cells from multiple sclerosis patients

  • P.J. Fink et al.

    Correlations between T-cell specificity and the structure of the antigen receptor

    Nature

    (1986)
  • B. Fleischer et al.

    Clonal analysis of HLA-restricted virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes from cerebrospinal fluid in mumps meningitis

    J. Immunol.

    (1983)
  • D.A. Hafler et al.

    In-vivo activated T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis

    N. Engl. J. Med.

    (1985)
  • S.L. Hauser et al.

    CSF cells in multiple sclerosis: monoclonal antibody analysis and relationship to peripheral blood T-cell subsets

    Neurology

    (1983)
  • F.M. Hofman et al.

    Immunoregulatory molecules and IL-2 receptors identified in multiple sclerosis brain

    J. Immunol.

    (1986)
  • N. Jones et al.

    Partial primary structure of the alpha and beta chains of human tumor T-cell receptors

    Science

    (1985)
  • Cited by (20)

    • Autoreactive T cells

      1988, Current Opinion in Immunology
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Part of this study was presented at a recent meeting on CSF held in Belgium.

    This study was financially supported by the Foundation for Medical Research FUNGO, which is subsidized by the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO) (grant No. 13-40-05).

    View full text