RT-PCR based analysis of T-cell receptor B variable region gene usage in normal human breast skin resident T lymphocytes (SRT)

Dopamine Receptor Gene Expression Changes in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Schizophrenic Patients Treated with Haloperidol and Olanzapine

We investigated dopamine receptor gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of schizophrenic patients before and after treatment. Also dopamine receptor genes expression profile was compared in two treatment groups including haloperidol and olanzapine. The peripheral blood mononuclear cells were separated from whole blood by Ficoll-hypaque; the total cellular RNA was extracted and the cDNA was synthesized. This process was followed by real-time polymerase chain reaction using primer pairs specific for five dopamine receptor mRNAs and β-actin as internal control. The results show the presence of all types of dopamine receptor in lymphocytes. Dopamine receptor gene expression profile in dopamine receptor D2 gene and dopamine receptor D4 gene showed significant changes that were correlated with the type of treatment and Clinical Global Impressions score improvement. In conclusion, the present study shows that human lymphocytes express dopamine receptor D1–D5 genes. Moreover, investigated dopamine receptors gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of schizophrenic patients correlated with clinical symptom improvement.

Inflammatory Mediator Serotonin Receptor Gene (5-HTR3A) Expression Changes on Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

The 5-HT3 receptor is a pentameric ligand-gated cation channel located in the central and peripheral nervous system and on extraneuronal locations like lymphocytes, monocytes and fetal tissue. Serotonin receptor gene expressions and their alterations in RA diseases have not been reported. The aim of this study is to show whether the serotonin receptor gene expresses on peripheral blood lymphocytes and also to characterise the lymphocyte serotonin receptor expression profiles in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In the present study, using RT-PCR technique, the research team investigated 5-HT3A receptor gene expression in peripheral blood lymphocyte cells (PBMC) of forty healthy individuals compared to forty RA patients. The PBMC was separated from whole blood by Ficoll-hypaque. Total cellular RNA was extracted and then cDNA was synthesized. The research team analyzed quantititavely gene expression profile by Real time-PCR using primer pairs specific for 5-HT3A receptor and for β-actin as internal control. Each PCR product of 5-HT3A receptor was confirmed by DNA sequencer ABI 3700 capillary system (Applied Biosystem, USA). The results showed that the 5-HT3A receptor gene is detected on the lymphocytes of both normal control and RA patients. There was a significant difference between 5-HT3A receptor expression profile in RA and that of healthy individuals. Moreover, no SNP-based change on sequenced fragments was observed. In conclusion, the present study indicated that not only human lymphocytes in normal individuals and patients express 5HT3A receptor, but the expression pattern of 5HT3A receptor gene is different between normal controls and RA patients. Moreover, after sequencing no changes in either controls or patients were observed. The above-mentioned changes can contribute to new information related to the pathogenesis of RA disease.

Novel Mutation Detection of Regulatory Molecule Dopamine Gene Receptors (D1–D5) Encoding Analysis on Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes in Schizophrenia Patients

There is much evidence which highlights the involvement of the dopamine system in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Recently, there have been reports of detected mutations in dopamine gene receptors in genomic DNA of schizophrenia. In this study, we attempt to determine whether there is mutation in encoding dopamine receptor. The PBMC was separated from whole blood by Ficoll-hypaque; the total cellular RNA was extracted and the cDNA was synthesized. This process followed by real-time PCR using primer pairs specific for five dopamine receptor mRNAs and β-actin as internal control. The results show the presence of all types of dopamine receptor types in lymphocytes. The mutational analysis of the obtained PCR products for the respective dopamine receptor fragments were analyzed by sequenced capillary system. The results presented in this study confirm the high frequency of mutations in dopamine gene receptor DRD5 in schizophrenia patients. Mutational amino acid changes in dopamine gene receptors of DR2, DR3, DR4 but not DR1 are also shown. In conclusion, this is the first report of such complete mutational analyses in all dopamine gene receptors. Moreover, we found new mutations and 80% frequency of mutations in DRD5. These data further strengthen the argument for the role of dopamine gene receptor mutations in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

Elastase II Gene Encoding as Inflammatory Molecules in Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia

Acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation with the bone marrow (BM) of malignant myeloid progenitors arrested in their maturation process and the egress of these abnormal cells into the circulation. There is evidence that neutrophil production is a balance between the proliferative action of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and a negative feedback from mature neutrophils. Recently, there have been reports on mutations in neutrophil elastase (ELA2) gene in genomic DNA of cyclic neutropenia. These patients developed acute myeloblastic leukemia. Therefore, we hypothesized that elastase may play role in the abnormal AML. Peripheral blood was obtained from 42 patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia and 30 healthy individuals. Total RNA was isolated using RNA standard techniques from freshly separated cells by polymorphoprep. RNA was analyzed by employing PCR amplification of reverse transcribed using a total of ten specific primers. We amplified five exons of ELA2 gene separately and sequenced each exon. Mutational analysis was carried out by directed capillary sequencing method. We found no mutation in 42 Acute myeloblastic leukemia patients compared to healthy individuals. Interestingly, we found heterozygote 50% single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in exon II codon 44 of healthy individuals but not in AML patients. It was a silent mutation G to A substitution but no changes in amino acid sequences. The codon sequence was GCG that changed to GCA.

Evidence for Restricted Vβ Usage in the Leukemic Phase of Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma

Antibodies directed against the beta chain of the T cell receptor (anti-Vbeta antibodies) are useful to identify the Vbeta repertoire of T cells in various diseases and to quantify numbers of Vbeta-bearing T cells. The goals of this study were to identify Vbeta+ cases of leukemic phase cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) and to compare the percentage of positive calls with other measures of blood tumor burden, i.e., lymphocyte subsets with a CD4+CD7- and CD4+CD26- phenotype and Sezary cell counts. Thirty-three of 49 (67%) cases of leukemic CTCL reacted with an anti-Vbeta antibody. When combined with reports from the literature, the frequency of Vbeta5 (probably Vbeta5.1) usage was relatively high when compared with Vbeta2 that is also frequently expressed by normal CD4+ T cells. The percentage of Vbeta+ cells correlated to the percentage of CD4+CD7- and CD4+CD26- cells for cases in which the neoplastic cells were deficient in expression of CD7 and CD26, respectively, but not the Sezary cell count. We hypothesize that the increased Vbeta5.1 usage in CTCL may be the result of depletion of Vbeta2 and other Vbeta-bearing T cells by staphylococcal superantigens prior to neoplastic transformation, resulting in a relative increase in the frequency of Vbeta5.1 usage in CTCL.

Oligoclonal T cells in human cancer

Many solid tumors are characterised by the infiltration of lymphocytes and their presence has been correlated with a more favourable prognosis. These tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), have been shown to possess specific cytolytic reactivity towards autologous tumours, thus suggesting that tumour cells may express antigens capable of eliciting an immune response. Expression of such tumour-associated antigens (TAA) in combination with appropriate accessory signals would lead to the in vivo accumulation of T cells with anti-tumour specificity. Analysis of the composition of the specific T-cell receptor (TCR) of TIL could thus provide information on the nature of the antigen(s) recognised by TIL. In this review, different aspects of the presence of clonal T cells in patients with cancer are discussed.