Productive re-arrangement at both alleles of the T-cell receptor beta-chain locus in CD4 T-cell clones specific for influenza haemagglutinin.

T-cell receptor (TcR) beta-chain usage, and VDJ junctional region sequences thereof in a panel of CD4+ T-cell clones Ad-, or Ak- or Ek-restricted for major antigenic sites of influenza haemagglutinin (H3 subtype), were investigated. Direct sequencing of cDNA, obtained by polymerase chain reaction, revealed that the majority of T-cell clones contained both productive and non-productive rearranged transcripts. Moreover, T-cell clones specific for p206-227 (Ad) or p245-265 (AK) contained double-productive re-arranged transcripts (V beta 6 J beta 2.6, V beta 4, J beta 1.2) and (V beta 6 J beta 1.3, V beta 8.2, J beta 1.5) respectively. However, FACS analysis with V beta-specific monoclonal antibodies established that, for each of these T-cell clones, only a single beta-chain was expressed at the cell surface, thereby indicating post-transcriptional editing.