Eighty-three south Indian patients with psoriasis vulgaris were studied for HLA antigen frequencies and compared with 77 controls studied simultaneously. HLA Bw57, a split of B17 was found elevated in the patients. The two sexes differed in their age-at-onset curves: females had a preponderance to early onset of the disease, while the males had late onset. Among these patients, major group 3, a Western Brachycephal Armenoid group, revealed the highest risk for B17 & Bw57 but not major group 2, a Mediterranean one.
Purified protein derivative (PPD) RT23-recalled T-cell receptor (TCR) V expression was studied in the peripheral blood of 42 pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 44 healthy controls from southern India, a region where tuberculosis is endemic. Forty-eight-hour whole-blood cultures in the presence or absence of PPD-RT23 were set up, and at the end of the culture period total RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized. Expression of various TCR V families was assessed by using family-specific primers. PPD-specific expression (usage) of TCR V families 4, 6, 8 to 12, and 14 was found in more controls than patients. Among the responders (individuals who showed PPD-specific expression), endemic controls had significantly higher responses than the patients had for TCR V families 2, 3, 7, 13, and 17. The majority of the patients did not show usage of most of the TCR V families, and this was attributed to T-cell downregulation. A four-way nested classification analysis revealed that TCR V family 1, 5, 9, 12, and 13 usage in the context of HLA class II high-risk alleles (DRB1*1501, DRB1*08, and DQB1*0601) and Mycobacterium bovis BCG scar status were the determining factors in susceptibility and resistance to tuberculosis. The healthier status of controls was attributed to the wider usage of many TCR V families readily recalled by PPD, while the disease status of the patients was attributed to TCR V downregulation and the resultant T-cell (memory cell?) unresponsiveness. Host genetics (HLA status) and BCG vaccination (scar status) seem to play important roles in skewing the immune response in adult susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis through TCR V usage.
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