Usage of T cell receptor (TCR) V beta gene in ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. In this study, the expression of TCRV beta gene in UC patients was examined. The present study included 11 consecutive Japanese patients with UC. The control group comprised 10 healthy people. The usage of T Cell Receptor (TCR) V beta chain gene segments in peripheral blood was examined using RT-PCR. In addition, HLA-DR DNA typing was performed for the 11 patients with UC. The average of the positive expression rates in the UC group was 0.617 +/- 0.126, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (0.829 +/- 0.080) (p < 0.01). In the UC group, the usage of V beta chain gene in the active phase was almost same as that in the inactive phase. No specific distribution of V beta repertoire was observed in the UC group. In UC patients, no distinct correlation was found between any certain HLA-DR type and TCRV B gene usage. UC patients had a significantly lower rate of the expression of TCR V beta genes compared to normal controls. There is a possibility that the restricted usage of TCR V beta repertoire is possibly related to the existence of oligoclonal TCR repertoire in UC patients.