SHARED HUMAN T-CELL RECEPTOR V-BETA USAGE TO IMMUNODOMINANT REGIONS OF MYELIN BASIC-PROTEIN

Multiple sclerosis (MS) may be an autoimmune disease mediated by T cells specific for a myelin protein. Investigations have demonstrated myelin basic protein (MBP)-reactive T cells that were activated in vivo in MS patients, suggesting that MBP may be a target antigen in MS. The variable (V) region of the T cell receptor (TCR) β chain was examined among 83 T cell lines from both MS patients and healthy subjects that were reactive with the immunodominant region of human MBP (residues 84 to 102) or with a second immunodominant region of MBP (143 to 168). VP17 and to a lesser extent Vβ12 were frequently used in recognition of MBP(84-102) among different individuals. In contrast, Vβ17 was very infrequent among lines reactive with MBP(143-168). These data demonstrate shared TCR Vβ gene usage for the recognition of immunodominant regions of the human autoantigen MBP. Such TCR structures may be used as targets for specific immunotherapy in MS.