High-Throughput Analysis of the T Cell Receptor Beta Chain Repertoire in PBMCs from Chronic Hepatitis B Patients with HBeAg Seroconversion

• Published in: The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology 2016-01, Vol.2016 (2016), p.1-7
• Main Authors: Lu, Jun, Tong, Yigang, Mi, Zhiqiang, Zhang, Zhiyi, Huang, Yinuo, Liu, Di, Huang, Yong, Qu, Yachao, An, Xiaoping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antigens; Chains; Crystal structure; Disease; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Hepatitis; Hepatitis associated antigen; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B e antigen; Hospitals; Immune system; Infections; Infectious diseases; Liver cancer; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Next-generation sequencing; Pathogenesis; Patients; Seroconversion; Studies; T cell receptors; T cells
• ISSN: 1712-9532; 1918-1493
• DOI: 10.1155/2016/8594107

T lymphocytes are the most important immune cells that affect both the development and treatment of hepatitis B. We used high-throughput sequencing to determine the diversity in the V and J regions of the TCRβ chain in 4 chronic hepatitis B patients before and after HBeAg seroconversion. Here, we demonstrate that the 4 patients expressed Vβ12-4 at the highest frequencies of 10.6%, 9.2%, 17.5%, and 7.5%, and Vβ28 was the second most common, with frequencies of 7.8%, 6.7%, 5.3%, and 10.9%, respectively. No significant changes were observed following seroconversion. With regard to the Jβ gene, Jβ2-1 was the most commonly expressed in the 4 patients at frequencies of 5.8%, 6.5%, 11.3%, and 7.3%, respectively. Analysis of the V-J region genes revealed several differences, including significant increases in the expression levels of V7-2-01-J2-1, V12-4-J1-1, and V28-1-J1-5 and a decrease in that of V19-01-J2-3. These results illustrate the presence of biased TCRVβ and Jβ gene expression in the chronic hepatitis B patients. TRBVβ12-4, Vβ28, Jβ2-1, V7-2-01-J2-1, V12-4-J1-1, and V28-1-J1-5 may be associated with the development and treatment of CHB.