Letter to the Editor T-CELL RECEPTOR ANALYSIS BY FLOW CYTOMETRY I read with interest the article by van den Beemd et al. (1). The authors provided interesting data pertaining to the use of T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chains in healthy individuals. We published a similar study of normal individuals using monoclonal antibodies (2) and the data are comparable. Both studies illustrated the varied manner in which these data may be presented. We examined VB expression as a percentage of cell type and as absolute numbers of cells expressing various TCR VB chains. van den Beemd et al. presented data as a percentage of each subset divided by the percentage of cells that were alpha- beta positive. Each approach has particular advantages and disadvantages. The complementary data presented by the two studies expand our knowledge of TCR VB usage in normal individuals. We studied variations in TCR VB usage by individ- ual donors over time, whereas van den Beemd et al. presented data related to TCR VB usage in different age groups. Both studies pointed out that defining the TCR VB repertoire in normal individuals is crucial to our under- standing of aberrations in disease processes. The assess- ment of T-cell neoplasms may benefit from these studies (3,4). Additionally, a myriad of other diseases, including HIV (5), may display alterations in TCR VB that are useful in diagnosis or monitoring. In conclusion, the study of TCR variable regions by flow cytometry has the potential to yield important clinical information. Continuing studies on normal individuals, such as the one by van den Beemd et al., should enhance the foundation for the potential application of flow cytometric analysis of TCR VB in the clinical laboratory. LITERATURE CITED 1. van den Beemd R, Boor PPC, van Lochem EG, et al. Flow cytometric analysis of the VB repertoire in healthy controls. Cytometry 2000;40: 336 –345. 2. McCoy JP, Overton WR, Schroeder K, et al. Immunophenotypic analysis of the T cell receptor VB repertoire in CD41 and CD81 lymphocytes from normal peripheral blood. Cytometry 1996;26:148 – 153. 3. Charley M, McCoy JP, Deng JS, Jegasothy B. Anti-V region antibodies as “almost clonotypic” reagents for the study of cutaneous T cell lymphomas and leukemia. J Invest Dermatol 1990;95:614 – 617. 4. McCoy JP, Charley M. Flow cytometric analysis of T cell neoplasms using monoclonal antibodies to variable regions of the T cell receptor. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1993;677:425– 426. 5. McCoy JP, Overton WR, Blumstein L, Baxter JD, Gekowski KM, Donaldson MH. Alterations of T cell receptor variable region expression in the progression of HIV disease. Cytometry 1995;22:1–9. Philip McCoy Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Camden, New Jersey © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Cytometry 44:369 (2001)

T-cell receptor analysis by flow cytometry

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Letter to the Editor

T-CELL RECEPTOR ANALYSIS BY FLOWCYTOMETRY

I read with interest the article by van den Beemd et al.(1). The authors provided interesting data pertaining tothe use of T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chains in healthyindividuals. We published a similar study of normal indi-viduals using monoclonal antibodies (2) and the data arecomparable. Both studies illustrated the varied manner inwhich these data may be presented. We examined VBexpression as a percentage of cell type and as absolutenumbers of cells expressing various TCR VB chains. vanden Beemd et al. presented data as a percentage of eachsubset divided by the percentage of cells that were alpha-beta positive. Each approach has particular advantagesand disadvantages.

The complementary data presented by the two studiesexpand our knowledge of TCR VB usage in normal indi-viduals. We studied variations in TCR VB usage by individ-ual donors over time, whereas van den Beemd et al.presented data related to TCR VB usage in different agegroups. Both studies pointed out that defining the TCR VBrepertoire in normal individuals is crucial to our under-standing of aberrations in disease processes. The assess-ment of T-cell neoplasms may benefit from these studies(3,4). Additionally, a myriad of other diseases, including

HIV (5), may display alterations in TCR VB that are usefulin diagnosis or monitoring.

In conclusion, the study of TCR variable regions by flowcytometry has the potential to yield important clinicalinformation. Continuing studies on normal individuals,such as the one by van den Beemd et al., should enhancethe foundation for the potential application of flow cyto-metric analysis of TCR VB in the clinical laboratory.

LITERATURE CITED

1. van den Beemd R, Boor PPC, van Lochem EG, et al. Flow cytometricanalysis of the VB repertoire in healthy controls. Cytometry 2000;40:336–345.

2. McCoy JP, Overton WR, Schroeder K, et al. Immunophenotypicanalysis of the T cell receptor VB repertoire in CD41 and CD81lymphocytes from normal peripheral blood. Cytometry 1996;26:148–153.

3. Charley M, McCoy JP, Deng JS, Jegasothy B. Anti-V region antibodiesas “almost clonotypic” reagents for the study of cutaneous T celllymphomas and leukemia. J Invest Dermatol 1990;95:614–617.

4. McCoy JP, Charley M. Flow cytometric analysis of T cell neoplasmsusing monoclonal antibodies to variable regions of the T cell recep-tor. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1993;677:425–426.

5. McCoy JP, Overton WR, Blumstein L, Baxter JD, Gekowski KM,Donaldson MH. Alterations of T cell receptor variable region expres-sion in the progression of HIV disease. Cytometry 1995;22:1–9.

Philip McCoyRobert Wood Johnson Medical SchoolCamden, New Jersey