Shared T cell receptor chains in blood memory CD4+ T cells of narcolepsy type 1 patients

J Autoimmun. 2019 Jun:100:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2019.03.010. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

Abstract

Convergent evidence points to the involvement of T cells in the pathogenesis of narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). Here, we hypothesized that expanded disease-specific T cell clones could be detected in the blood of NT1 patients. We compared the TCR repertoire of circulating antigen-experienced CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from 13 recently diagnosed NT1 patients and 11 age-, sex-, and HLA-DQB1*06:02-matched healthy controls. We detected a bias in the usage of TRAV3 and TRAV8 families, with public CDR3α motifs only present in CD4+ T cells from patients with NT1. These findings may offer a unique tool to identify disease-relevant antigens.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / pathology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / pathology
  • Female
  • HLA-DQ beta-Chains / genetics
  • HLA-DQ beta-Chains / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunologic Memory*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Narcolepsy* / genetics
  • Narcolepsy* / immunology
  • Narcolepsy* / pathology
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell* / genetics
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell* / immunology

Substances

  • HLA-DQ beta-Chains
  • HLA-DQB1 antigen
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell

Supplementary concepts

  • Narcolepsy 1