Allelic variants of human TCR BV17S1 defined by restriction fragment length polymorphism, single strand conformation polymorphism, and amplification refractory mutation system analyses.

Several human TCR BV gene subfamilies, including BV3, BV14, and BV17S1, are single member genes but are overutilized among activated CD4+ synovial T cells in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To define the role of these TCR BV genes in the pathogenesis of disease, it is critical to characterize the genomic organization and the allelic variations of these genes. In this study we describe allelic variations of BV17S1 defined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), and amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) analyses. A single nucleotide replacement (C/T) results in an amino acid substitution (F/L) in the leader and distinguishes BV17S11 from BV17S12. This nucleotide substitution was found to create a BsmAI restriction enzyme recognition site in BV17S12. Therefore genotypic analyses can be performed either by the SSCP or RFLP method. The analyses of 75 unrelated individuals show that the frequency for allele BV17S11 is 52.7% and for allele BV17S12 is 47.3%. Both alleles are functionally expressed and are distributed within CD4+/CD8+ T cell subsets. Another point mutation in the CDR2 region of BV17S1, which results in the amino acid replacement of Gln by His, originally identified form a cDNA clone, has now been confirmed as an allele by ARMS analysis using genomic DNA preparations and designated to as BV17S13. Screening of this CDR2 related variant among normal populations indicates that this is a rare allele (1 of 75). Although this variant may be of functional significance, the genotypic analysis and functional studies are difficult due to the low frequency of BV17S1*3. In an attempt to define a correlation between BV17S1 allelic usage and susceptibility to RA, the germline distribution of BV17S1 alleles *1 and *2 has been examined in a small number of RA patients and no skewed usage has been identified.