Analysis of T cell receptor beta chain repertoire in middle ear effusions

In order to elucidate the immune response in otitis media with effusion (OME), the polymerase chain reaction was employed to examine T cells in middle ear effusions in patients with OME for utilization of T cell receptor (TCR) variable region genes. Specimens of RNA were extracted from 13 ears of 12 patients (9 children and 3 adults). Oligonucleotide primers specific for individual TCR V beta gene families were used to amplify TCR gene products in each sample. Although the number of V beta families utilized by each sample varied from 1 family to 21, a few significant trends emerged. Eleven ears out of 13 expressed V beta 7, which was the most frequently utilized (84.6%) V beta family among the 24 V beta families. In 5 of the 13 samples, the number of V beta families utilized was restricted to 1, which was V beta 7 in all 5 samples. This result indicates the possibility that V beta 7-bearing T cells in the middle ear are responding to a certain common antigen in some cases of OME.