T‐Cell Receptor β‐Chain Gene Rearrangements of T‐Cell Populations Expanded from Multiple Sites of Synovial Tissue obtained from a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Abstract
In this study T‐cell receptor (TcR) β‐chain gene rearrangements of T‐cell lines prepared from multiple sites (n=92) of synovial tissue derived from both knees of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis were analysed. In the majority of T‐cell lines, dominant TcR β‐chain gene rearrangements were detected, involving Cβ1 as well as Cβ2. The dominant rearrangement patterns of T‐cell lines from different tissue fragments showed significant variability, but some of the DNA restriction fragments were shared by T‐cell lines from multiple sites in both knees. The latter observation suggests that identical T‐cell clones may be present at different sites in the synovial tissue and in different joints. However, since many T‐cell lines yielded different rearrangement patterns, these data also indicate considerable heterogeneity of T cells in the joints. Apart from theoretical implications, this TcR heterogeneity of T cells within an individual patient also has practical consequences for studies on synovial T cells obtained by biopsy.