Expression Patterns of the Beta Chain of the T Cell Receptor for Antigen

With the isolation of recombinant clones encoding the beta chain of the T cell receptor1–3, the similarity of expression patterns in functionally and developmentally distinct T cell subsets can be determined. In this report, we present the transcriptional patterns of the beta chain in thymocytes and peripheral T cells, and the expression of the beta chain in functionally defined T cells. Special interest is directed at the abundance and size of transcripts in immature vs. mature T cells, and at the structure of transcripts found in different tissues, i.e., message transcribed from aberrant or productively rearranged genes. Further attention is paid to the expression of the beta chain in helper, cytotoxic, and suppressor T cells as a reflection of the nature of the antigen-specific receptor in these cell types.