VanderBorght A, van der Aa A, Geusens P, Vandevyver C, Raus J, Stinissen P. Identification of overrepresented T cell receptor genes in blood and tissue biopsies by PCR-ELISA.
J Immunol Methods 1999;
223:47-61. [PMID:
10037234 DOI:
10.1016/s0022-1759(98)00201-4]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The analysis of T cell receptor variable (TCR V) gene repertoires in blood or tissues may provide important information when studying immunopathological mechanisms. The overexpression of a TCR gene may indicate the expansion of the corresponding T cell subset. In autoimmune diseases, clonally expanded T cell subsets in the affected organs may represent pathogenic lymphocytes. We describe a simple, rapid and sensitive method to determine the TCR AV and BV gene repertoire using a PCR-ELISA method. RNA is extracted from lymphocytes, transcribed to cDNA, which is then used as a template for PCR with 19 different TCR AV gene and 20 BV gene specific primers as the forward primer, and a digoxigenin (DIG) labeled AC/BC primer as the reverse primer. The DIG labeled PCR amplicons are hybridized with a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled TCR C region specific probe. Finally, the amplicons are quantified by ELISA using anti-FITC coated microtiter plates, and an anti-DIG conjugated peroxidase. Although PCR-ELISA cannot accurately quantify the expression level of a given TCR gene, overrepresented TCR V genes are easily identified by comparing the relative expression levels of each individual V gene in the total V gene repertoire. We demonstrate that this technique can be used to determine TCR profiles in blood and tissue samples containing as few as 50,000 T cells. In combination with CDR3 fragment size analysis, this method is an efficient tool to identify clonally expanded T cell subsets in the synovial biopsies of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
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