[HTML][HTML] Analysis of the paired TCR α-and β-chains of single human T cells

SM Kim, L Bhonsle, P Besgen, J Nickel, A Backes… - PloS one, 2012 - journals.plos.org
SM Kim, L Bhonsle, P Besgen, J Nickel, A Backes, K Held, S Vollmer, K Dornmair, JC Prinz
PloS one, 2012journals.plos.org
Analysis of the paired ie matching TCR α-and β-chain rearrangements of single human T
cells is required for a precise investigation of clonal diversity, tissue distribution and
specificity of protective and pathologic T-cell mediated immune responses. Here we
describe a multiplex RT-PCR based technology, which for the first time allows for an
unbiased analysis of the complete sequences of both α-and β-chains of TCR from single T
cells. We validated our technology by the analysis of the pathologic T-cell infiltrates from …
Analysis of the paired i.e. matching TCR α- and β-chain rearrangements of single human T cells is required for a precise investigation of clonal diversity, tissue distribution and specificity of protective and pathologic T-cell mediated immune responses. Here we describe a multiplex RT-PCR based technology, which for the first time allows for an unbiased analysis of the complete sequences of both α- and β-chains of TCR from single T cells. We validated our technology by the analysis of the pathologic T-cell infiltrates from tissue lesions of two T-cell mediated autoimmune diseases, psoriasis vulgaris (PV) and multiple sclerosis (MS). In both disorders we could detect various T cell clones as defined by multiple T cells with identical α- and β-chain rearrangements distributed across the tissue lesions. In PV, single cell TCR analysis of lesional T cells identified clonal CD8+ T cell expansions that predominated in the epidermis of psoriatic plaques. An MS brain lesion contained two dominant CD8+ T-cell clones that extended over the white and grey matter and meninges. In both diseases several clonally expanded T cells carried dual TCRs composed of one Vβ and two different Vα-chain rearrangements. These results show that our technology is an efficient instrument to analyse αβ-T cell responses with single cell resolution in man. It should facilitate essential new insights into the mechanisms of protective and pathologic immunity in many human T-cell mediated conditions and allow for resurrecting functional TCRs from any αβ-T cell of choice that can be used for investigating their specificity.
PLOS