T lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) from idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) patients are considered to recognize unknown antigens, such as dust, fume, virus or degenerated autoantigens. To analyse the nature of these T lymphocytes, we investigated T cell receptor (TCR) Vβ gene usage (22 kinds) in BAL Lymphocytes and Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 10 11P patients and 9 normal controls, using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction method. In BAL lymphocytes, predominant usage of Vβgenes (>15% of the sum of all Vβ transcripts) was recognized in 7 of 10 IIP patients, which appeared to vary in individuals (Case 1: Vβ14, case 2: Vβ3, Vβ5.1, case 5: Vβ2, case 6: Vβ6, case 7: Vβ8, case 8: Vβ7, Vβ20, case 9: Vβ6), whereas no predominant Vβ usage was demonstrated in normal controls. It remains to be elucidated whether the BAL lymphocytes expressing predominant Vβ genes are involved in the activation of alveolar macrophages, fibroblasts, thereby inducing the production of autoantibodies.
View full abstract