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Similar patterns in Vβ TCR seen in healthy, atopic children

Researchers in this study found a similar pattern of V segments in the beta chain of T-cell regulators among atopic and healthy patients, according to research.

“Our findings serve to establish normal reference values of Vβ T-cell receptors levels in atopic children and would contribute to detect deviations in this repertoire in atopic children with suspected immunodeficiency and immune dysregulations and malignancies,” Gassem Gohal, from the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Department of Pediatrics at Montreal Children’s Hospital in Montréal, Canada, and colleagues wrote in their study. “Future studies assessing such comparisons are required to elucidate disparities that have clinical implications for diagnosis and management.”

Gohal and colleagues evaluated 53 pediatric patients from registries for food and drug allergies, as well as anaphylaxis and chronic urticaria, according to the abstract. Patients were divided into groups based on age: 0 years to 2 years, 3 years to 6 years and 6 years to 18 years. To study the quantitative pattern of Vβ by flow cytometry, the researchers used commercially available antibodies and measured them against 21 human class-specific V segments of the TCRβ chain.

They found a similar TCR Vβ expression among children from every age group, with Vβ 2 as the most common expression in the 0-year to 2-year range (9.5%; 95% CI, 8.9-10%), 3-year to 6-year range 8.8% (95% CI, 7.4-10.2%) and 6-year to 18-year age range 7.6% (95% CI, 7.0-8.3%). However, there was a decrease of Vβ 2 in older children and an increase in Vβ 1 in male children. – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.