TCR CDR3 Sequencing as a Clue to Elucidate the Landscape of Dysimmunity in Patients with Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia

Background: Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder. The existence of autoreactive T cells has long been proposed in ITP. Yet the identification of autoreactive T cells has not been achieved, which is an important step to elucidate the pathogenesis of ITP. Methods: ITP patients’ peripheral blood was collected prior to the treatment and one month after initiating dexamethasone treatment per related therapeutic guideline. Serum cytokines were profiled to examine T cell subtypes imbalance using a protein chip. TCR Vβ analysis in CD8(+)T cells of ITP patients, and TCR CDR3 DNA sequencing of CD4(+)T and CD8(+)T cells were performed to determine the autoreactive T cells’ clones. Results: Cytokine profiling revealed imbalanced distribution of T cells subtypes, which was confirmed by CD4(+)T and CD8(+)T cells’ oligoclonal expansion of TCR Vβ analysis and TCR CDR3 DNA sequencing. VDJ segments were found to be more frequently presented in ITP patients, when compared with health controls. There was an individualized CD4(+)T cell or CD8+T cell CDR3 sequence in each ITP patient. Conclusions: The present study revealed that T cell clones expanded in ITP patients’ peripheral blood, and each clone had an individualized TCR CDR3 sequence. The expanded T cell clones preferred to use some specific VDJ segment. Further studies are warranted to get access to individualized treatment such as Car-T in patients with ITP.