The colitis in TCR alpha-/- mice resembles human ulcerative colitis and provides a useful model to study the pathogenesis of human inflammatory bowel disease.
In contrast, the colitis in TCR alpha KO mice shares many features of ulcerative colitis including the dominance of Th2 pathway in colonic inflammation.
This report examined the TCR beta-chains expressed by purified CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from normal colonic lamina propria and from the intestinal mucosa of patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC).
The persistently expanded TCR-beta chain sequences of CD4+ peripheral blood T cells were identifiable in genomic DNA isolated from archival tissue of intestine from subjects with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis by Southern blotting and direct DNA sequencing.