Patterns of T-cell reconstitution by assessment of T-cell receptor excision circle and T-cell receptor clonal repertoire after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in leukemia patients--a study in Chinese patients

OBJECTIVE: Successful allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) requires reconstitution normal T-cell immunity. Measurement of T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) and T-cell receptor beta (TCRBV) CDR3 repertoire is a means of quantifying recent thymic T-cell production and reflecting antigen-specific T-cell clones proliferation. METHODS: We used real-time quantitative PCR to detect TRECs from 43 Chinese patients who underwent three kind of allo-HSCT without T-cell depletion. RT-PCR was performed to amplify 24 subfamily genes of TCRBV in 24 patients of them. RESULTS: For haploidentical-D group, the TRECs numbers were lower up to 24 months. For matched-sibling donor (MSD) group, the recovery of TRECs was faster than those of other two groups. TRECs values in matched-unrelated donor (MUD) were in the middle. During 2-19 months after transplantation, there were 6-16 BV subfamilies expressed and 33-48% of them were polyclones. The usage rate of TCRBV and percentage of polyclones in haploidentical-D were less than those of other two groups. Twenty-three CDR3 molecules were obtained from nine patients who were potentially associated with GVHD or CMV infection. CONCLUSIONS: Analyzing the changes of TCRBV repertoire and measuring TRECs during immune reconstitution would be useful to determine the host's current immune status and ability of T-cell immune reconstitution and also to find antigen-specific T-cell clones in the three kinds of HSCT.