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

Objective: 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).

Methods: 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.

Results: (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 the four most common BV families in deciduas of patients with RSA and normal controls, whose frequencies were all more than 50%. In RSA group, higher frequencies of BV15 (33.3% vs. 7.3%, P = 0.018), BV19 (38.9% vs. 14.6%, P = 0.049) and BV20 (33.3% vs. 7.3%, P = 0.018) were observed; meanuhile lower frequencies of BV4 (33.3% vs. 65.9%, P = 0.026) and BV7 (66.7% vs.92.7%, P = 0.018) distributions were observed. The other TCR BV families did not display significantly different freqencies of distribution (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: It is suggested that a significant skewed TCR BV family occurs at the maternal-fetal interface in patients who undergo abortion. The specific skewed usages of TCR BV might be associated with the susceptibility to unexplained pregnancy loss.