T-Cell Receptor VβExpression in Normal Human Skin

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1993-02, Vol.90 (4), p.1267-1271
• Main Authors: Dunn, David A., Gadenne, Anne-Sophie, Simha, Swarnalatha, Lerner, Ethan A., Bigby, Michael, Bleicher, Paul A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antigens; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Cloning, Molecular; Complementary DNA; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Humans; Lymphocytes; Microbial flora; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Receptors; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta - genetics; Reference Values; RNA - genetics; RNA - isolation & purification; Skin; Skin - immunology; T cell antigen receptors; T lymphocytes; T-Lymphocytes - immunology
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.90.4.1267

The skin-associated immune system is the first line of defense against pathogenic attack from the environment and is simultaneously tolerant to localized autoantigens and to antigens of the normal microbial flora. The T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of skin lymphocytes may therefore be influenced by the skin microenvironment. We studied the expression of TCR β-chain variable region (Vβ) genes in normal skin by a polymerase chain reaction-based comparative method. When comparing the amplification of Vβgenes in peripheral blood and normal skin, we found that TCR Vβ1, -7, -14, and -16 were often highly expressed in skin relative to peripheral blood, whereas Vβ5.1 was often highly expressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells but not in skin. These results demonstrate that the TCR repertoire of skin lymphocytes is not determined by random sampling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells but may be molded by the interaction with self antigens and/or the normal microbial flora in the microenvironment of the skin.