T cell receptor usage by HLA-DR3-specific T cell clones isolated from a renal allograft

In order to evaluate the T cell receptor (TCR) usage by clones of human allograft infiltrating lymphocytes, this study utilized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of TCR transcripts from five clones which were previously shown to react with a human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR3 mismatch between a living related kidney donor and recipient. The five CD4+ (CD8-) clones, which were selected for TCR analysis, proliferated in response to HLA-DR3 and three of the clones were also cytotoxic against the same target cells. After identification of the TCRAV and TCRBV usage of the clones, the sequence of the TCR alpha and beta were determined by direct sequencing of the PCR product. The results indicate that several different TCRAV and TCRBV gene segments are used among the different clones, but the two clones that were both cytotoxic and proliferative in response to HLA-DR3 shared identical TCRAV27-J42-C and TCRBV13-D1-J1S2-C1 transcripts. The additional three clones showed various TCRAV and TCRBV transcripts, but evaluation of the CDR3 region of the TCR beta chain, corresponding to the peptide antigen binding sites, demonstrated shared amino acid motifs which resulted both from germline sequences and combinations of n-region and germline-derived codons. These results suggest that the repertoire for anti-HLA-DR3-reactive clones can include a diverse expression of TCR, but there may be selection for some clones, as well as conserved motifs in the CDR3 region of anti-DR3 specific clones.