Double-negative BV8S3 T cells expanded in MRL lpr/lpr lymph nodes conserve TCRBJ gene usage of single-positive BV8S3 T cells.

Enlarged lymph nodes of mice with lpr mutation consist predominantly of CD4- CD8- (double-negative: DN) T cells. Among them, TCRBV8S3 (V beta 8.3) T cells are overrepresented as compared to those in single-positive (SP) T cells. To address the question of whether the expansion of oligoclonal T cells is responsible for the increase in TCRBV8S3 cells, we examined the TCRBJ gene repertoires of BV8S3 DN and SP T cells from multiple MRL lpr/lpr mice. The BJ repertoires of BV3 (V beta 3), BV8S1 (V beta 8.1) and BV8S2 (V beta 8.2) were studied for comparison with those of BV8S3 T cells. The employed method, which was based on a PCR-ELISA technique, was newly developed and allowed us to make a precise quantitation of TCRBJ gene usage of the multiple lymphocyte samples. The results showed that there were no biases of the BJ gene usage by BV8S3 DN T cells as well as other BV T cells. Furthermore, the BJ gene usage of CD4 and CD8 BV8S3 T cells was conserved by the DN T cells. It is suggested that the BV8S3 DN T cells were not expanded by specific antigens. The expansion may result from aberrant regulation specific to the BV8S3-expressing T cells.