Analysis of T cell receptor beta chain repertoire in middle ear effusions

In order to elucidate the immune response in otitis media with effusion (OME), the polymerase chain reaction was employed to examine T cells in middle ear effusions in patients with OME for utilization of T cell receptor (TCR) variable region genes. Specimens of RNA were extracted from 13 ears of 12 patients (9 children and 3 adults). Oligonucleotide primers specific for individual TCR Vbeta gene families were used to amplify TCR gene products in each sample. Although the number of Vbeta families utilized by each sample varied from 1 family to 21, a few significant trends emerged. Eleven ears out of 13 expressed Vbeta7, which was the most frequently utilized (84.6%) Vbeta family among the 24 Vbeta families. In 5 of the 13 samples, the number of Vbeta families utilized was restricted to 1, which was Vbeta7 in all 5 samples. This result indicates the possibility that Vbeta7-bearing T cells in the middle ear are responding to a certain common antigen in some cases of OME.