Restriction of T-cell receptor repertoires in idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia

S Signorini1, S Pirovano, S Fiorentini

  • 1Terzo Laboratorio Analisi, Spedali Civili and Institute of Chemistry, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.

We report that alpha/beta and gamma/delta T-cell repertoires of three patients with idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia, who showed different clinical manifestations and outcomes over time, were highly restricted. The disruption of T-cell repertoires does not influence the susceptibility to infections: the first patient was unable to attain a protective response to mycobacterium, the second showed clinical improvement and the third did not develop opportunistic infections. These results indicate that idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia could give rise to mono-/oligoclonal T-cell expansions, but the degree of repertoire disturbance is not indicative of the severity of disease progression.