Circulating α4β7⁺ Memory T Cells in Pediatric IBD Patients Express a Polyclonal T Cell Receptor Repertoire

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and Clinical Phenotype of Studied Patients

		Gender	Current Age (yrs)	Age at Diagnosis	PUCAI/ PCADI	Phenotype	Medication
Control	C1	M	16.0				None
	C2	M	15.3				None
	C3	M	16.8				None
	C4	F	12.5				None
	C5	F	14.5				None
UC	UC1	M	17.9	15.4	25	E4	Mesalazine
	UC2	M	15.8	13.7	20	E1	Prednisone, azathioprine
	UC3	F	17.8	12.6	15	E1	Mesalazine
	UC4	F	15.5	15.5	40	E2	None
	UC5	M	17.9	17.6	0*	E2	Mesalazine
	UC6	M	13.5	13.5	40	E4	None
CD	CD1	M	14.8	12.2	37.5	L2^%	Adalimumab
	CD2	M	15.8	13.1	17.5	L1	Ustekinumab
	CD3	F	15.4	5.5	32.5	L1	Adalimumab
	CD4	F	17.0	16.2	30	L1	Prednisone, azathioprine
	CD5	F	18.0	14.0	0^#	L1	Infliximab

Notes: *Patient in clinical remission but with endoscopic evidence of inflammation (Mayo 2). ^#Patient in clinical remission but with evidence of inflammation of ileocecal region, with large ulcers and cobblestoning. ^%Patient with initial L1 phenotype that changed after ileocecal resection to L2. For patients receiving biologics blood was drawn before receiving the scheduled dose of the drug.

Abbreviations: M, male; F, female; UC, ulcerative colitis; CD, Crohn’s disease; E1, proctitis; E2, left-sided colitis; E4, pancolitis; L1, ileocecal disease; L2, colonic disease; PUCAI, pediatric ulcerative colitis activity index; pCDAI, pediatric Crohn’s disease activity index.

Figure 1 Comparable immune cell frequencies among studied patients and controls. Figure displays frequency of (A) memory CD3⁺CD45RO⁺ T cells and (B) α4β7⁺ and α4β7⁻ memory T cells in control subjects and patients with CD or UC.

Figure 2 Polyclonal TCRβ repertoire characterizes circulating α4β7⁺ memory T cells. (A) Representative treemap images showing repertoire landscape in a control subject and patients with UC and CD. (B) Cumulative percentage of top 100 clones followed by representation of markers of diversity, including (C) Shannon’s H, (D) Simpson’s D and (E) clonality.

Figure 3 High degree of clonal overlap between α4β7⁺ and α4β7⁻ memory T cells. (A) Representative pair-wise scatters between α4β7⁺ and α4β7⁻ memory T cells in a control subject, and patients with UC or CD, followed by (B) cumulative analysis.

Figure 4 TRB gene usage in control subjects and IBD patients. Comparison of usage of the (A) TRBV genes and (B) TRBJ family genes in α4β7⁺ (top panel) and α4β7⁻ (bottom panel) memory T cells in control subjects, patients with UC and those with CD. For TRBV figures depict only genes with >1% frequency. **P value=0.002.