T cell receptor Vβ expression in human intestine: Regional variation in postnatal intestine and biased usage in fetal gut

Abstract

A panel of T cell receptor Vβ specific monoclonal antibodies was used to analyse Vβ gene usage at different sites in human postnatal and fetal intestine. In normal small intestine, at a single site, different patients showed expansion of T cells expressing individual Vβs. Lamina propria and epithelial T cells from the same patient showed overlapping but not identical Vβ dominance. Vβ dominance was also shown in the T cells of the colonic lamina propria. Analysis of two separate regions of intestine from the same patient (5-100 cm apart) showed that T cells expressing a dominant Vβ region were often present at both sites. In most patients, however, major biases in T cell Vβ usage (two to 12-fold variation) were also apparent between the two sites. Analysis of Vβ expression in human fetal intestine also showed considerable skewing, although the most common dominant Vβ in postnatal intestine (Vβ22) was never predominant in fetal intestine. Patchy local variation in the expression of individual Vβs therefore occurs against a background of Vβ dominance over large regions of the human gut. Furthermore the results from fetal gut show that factors other than luminal antigen control Vβ expression in the gut.