Skewed T-cell receptor beta chain variable gene (TCRBV) usage among different clinical types of patients with chronic HBV infection.

This study aimed to determine the degree of clonal expansion of T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from patients suffering from different clinical types of hepatitis B (HB) infection and to analyse the clinical relevance of the skewed T-cell receptor beta variable (TCRBV). Sera and PBMCs were collected from 90 HB patients. Gene melting spectral pattern (GMSP) analysis was used to determine the distribution and expansion of populations expressing specific TCRBV complementary determined region 3 (CDR3) genes. TCRBV genes associated with monoclonal expansion were sequenced. TCRBV families from the majority of patients (80/90) displayed skewed T-cell expansion. Furthermore, TCRBV11, BV12 and BV13.1 were more frequent than other TCRBV genes; the sequence of TCRBV11 CDR3 was expressed as 'VYNEQ' in all patients and was accompanied by the BJ2.1 fragment. In patients with chronic HB, the frequency of skewed TCRBV was inversely correlated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels. The persistently skewed TCRBV gene families in HB patients may be associated with the development and maintenance of hepatitis. GMSP analysis of TCRBV gene families may be helpful in estimating disease status, and BV11 may be associated with HBV replication in patients with chronic HBV infection.