Evidence of limited variability of antigen receptors on intrathyroidal T cells in autoimmune thyroid disease

Abstract Background. Patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases, including Graves' disease and Hashimoto's disease, have marked lymphocytic infiltration in their thyroid glands. We examined the gene for the variable regions of the α-chain of the human T-cell receptor (the Vα gene) in intrathyroidal T cells to determine whether the infiltration is a secondary heterogeneous immune response or a more restricted, and therefore primary and presumably pathogenetic, reaction to thyroid autoantigens. Methods. We used the polymerase chain reaction to detect small numbers of T cells expressing the variable region of the Vα gene. Different oligonucleotides were used to amplify complementary DNA for the 18 known families of the Vα gene in intrathyroidal T cells from 9 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease. We compared the findings with the results in patients with nonautoimmune thyroid disease as well as those in normal subjects. Results. We found marked restriction in the expression of T-cell–receptor Vα genes by ...