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V region T cell receptor repertoire in Parkinson's disease
U Fiszer1, S Fredrikson, E Mix
1Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Family Medicine, Huddinge Hospital, Sweden.
Introduction:
Restricted usage of V alpha and beta genes has been found in several diseases, which exert autoreactive T cells. So far no information on T cell receptor (TCR) usage in degenerative diseases is available. Since T cells may be involved in pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, the analysis of the TCR repertoire is of importance.
Material And Methods:
We have tested the frequency of 6 V beta-subtypes and the most common V alpha-subfamily on peripheral blood lymphocytes in 21 PD patients and 20 controls, separately on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. For our study Diversi--T, the first available Mab set specific for TCR V regions, was used.
Results:
As a results, no significant differences were found with one exception, i.e., lower frequency of V beta 8(a) expression on CD8+ T cells in PD patients than in controls.
Conclusion:
The failure of preferential usage or lack of usage of the tested V-chain alleles by CD4+ T cells argues against an involvement of helper T cells in PD induction.