High-throughput sequencing reveals the change of TCR α chain CDR3 with Takayasu arteritis

Takayasu arteritis (TAK) is an inflammatory disease of blood vessels, and its pathogenesis is not clear at present. In this study, we explored the immunological characteristics of T cell receptor (TCR) α-chain complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) in patients with TAK.

Five untreated patients with TAK were collected from June 2019 to December 2019. Four healthy blood samples were matched as the control group. The blood mononuclear cells were separated, and RNA was extracted for reverse transcription to obtain complementary DNA. Then high-throughput sequencing was performed. The quality of samples was evaluated by principal component analysis. We compared the diversity and expression of TCR α-chain between TAK group and control group. R software was used for statistical analysis and drawing, and Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the differences between the two groups.

The results showed that there was a significant difference in the diversity of TCR α-chain CDR3 between the two groups. Three V region genes expression significantly higher in the TAK patients than in the control group. A total of 196 VJ rearrangement genes are significantly different between the two groups, of which 149 rearrangement genes in the TAK group are lower than those in the control group, and 47 rearrangement genes in the TAK group are higher than those in the control group.

Patients with TAK have a unique TCR α-chain CDR3 library. These characteristic genes may be a marker for early diagnosis and provide a new theoretical basis for treating TAK.