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Conserved T cell receptor complementarity-determining region 3 of ocular T cells in mice with experimental autoimmune
R Uehara1, K Fujisawa, T Kezuka
1Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Genetic Program, Institute of Medical Science, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan.
Purpose:
To characterize T cells infiltrating into the ocular tissues of mice with experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) immunized with interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP).
Methods:
The T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire on T cells obtained from ocular lesions of EAU mice was analyzed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The clonotype of the T cells was examined by the single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) method, followed by sequence analysis of the TCR beta-chain complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3).
Results:
The repertoire of the TCR BV gene in T cells from inflamed lesions was heterogeneous. SSCP analysis showed accumulation of multiple T cells specifically in ocular tissues of EAU mice, suggesting that these cells were expanded by an antigen-driven stimulation. Junctional sequence analysis demonstrated the presence of highly conserved amino acid sequence motifs (AGTGG, AGD) in CDR3 of BV2-positive T cells.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that T cells infiltrating into ocular lesions of EAU mice recognize restricted T cell epitopes of IRBP, resulting in autoimmune uveoretinitis.