To determine if the expressed T cell receptor (TCR) gamma repertoire is altered in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Peripheral blood lymphocytes were collected from monozygotic twins who were either concordant or discordant for RA, or from a normal twin pair. TCR gamma-specific complementary DNA libraries were constructed using the anchored polymerase chain reaction. Gene usage was analyzed by plaque hybridization and sequencing.
The expressed TCR V gamma repertoires both in RA patients and normal subjects were extremely diverse. Monozygotic twins who were concordant for RA expressed very different frequencies of TCR V gamma genes.
RA does not lead to a specific clonal expansion or deletion of TCR V gamma genes in peripheral blood.