The skewed usage of T cell receptor beta variable chain at the maternal-fetal interface of women with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion

To investigate T cell receptor (TCR) variable beta (BV) chain usage at the maternal-fetal interface and explore the relationship between the skewed TCR BV usage and unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). Eighteen cases with unexplained RSA, together with matched 41 women with normal pregnancies in first trimester from Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University were studied. A high-resolution spectrum typing analysis of complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) was used to detect and compare the degree and frequency of TCR BV family expression in deciduas between RSA patients and normal controls. (1) The expression degree of BV19 (0.029 +/- 0.031 vs. 0.013 +/- 0.010, P = 0.038) in RSA group showed a higher usage, while BV5.2 (0.040 +/- 0.035 vs. 0.067 +/- 0.052, P = 0.046) showed a significantly lower usage when compared with normal controls. No significant difference in the expression of the other TCR BV families between RSA and controls were observed (P > 0.05). (2) TCR BV2, 3, 6, and 7 were