Limited T-cell receptor V gene usage in inclusion body myositis

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is a chronic, progressive inflammatory myopathy. The inflammatory infiltrates are dominated by T cells, which frequently invade muscle fibres. The present study was performed to characterize the usage of the variable (V) segment of the T-cell receptor of muscle infiltrating cells in IBM. Using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique the authors analysed the expression of 22 V alpha and 24 V beta families in muscle tissue from six patients with IBM displaying intense inflammatory cell infiltration. The following V alpha/V beta families appeared in at least 50% of the patients: V alpha 1, 5, 7, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22 and V beta 3, 5.2, 8, 12, 14, 22. In all patients V alpha 7, 16 and V beta 8 were expressed in muscle tissue. Furthermore, in two of the patients peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were investigated in parallel. There was a restricted usage of V alpha and V beta families in muscle in comparison to PBL, indicating a selective homing or local proliferation of T lymphocytes in the inflammatory lesions in IBM.