Limited diversity and selection of rearranged gamma genes in polyclonal T cells

The role of a T gamma gene product in the immune response is not known. To investigate the participation of the T gamma gene in functional T cells, we estimated its variable (V gamma) gene diversity among mature polyclonal T cells and assayed for in vivo selection of rearranged V gamma genes during the immune response. In this study, we present evidence that functionally mature, normal human T cells have rearranged their T gamma genes but display a limited range of gene rearrangement choices. In contrast to clonal T cell neoplasms, an invariant array of seven T gamma gene rearrangements was found to be proportionately distributed within normal polyclonal T cell populations, as well as in benign polyclonal T cell proliferations incited by a wide variety of pathological conditions. Findings presented here indicate that the likelihood of rearrangement of each human V gamma gene may be fixed. Lack of selection of V gamma genes during the mature T cell immune response implies a limited role of any single V gamma gene at this stage of T cell development.