Specificity and T cell receptor β chain usage of a human collagen type II‐reactive T cell clone derived from a healthy individual

Collagen type II (CII) is a cartilage‐specific matrix compound well known as an inducer of an experimental. T cell‐dependent autoimmune arthritis, a disease which shows some similarities to human rheumatoid arthritis. Here we report on an HLA‐DR7‐restricted human CD4 T cell clone (TC9), which was isolated from a healthy donor and recognizes human CII. After screening CNBr fragments of CII and tryptic fragments derived thereof, the T cell epitope could be mapped to amino acid residues 271‐285 of the triple helical region of CII that are located within CNBr fragment 11 [α1 (II) CB11]. This epitope was confirmed by a synthetic peptide stimulatory for TC9. The T cell receptor β chain of TC9 was cloned using the polymerase chain reaction; it comprises Vβ6.7 and contains besides Jβ2.3 and Cβ2 an as yet undescribed sequence for the D segment.