Molecular evolution of the human immunoglobulin E response: high incidence of shared mutations and clonal relatedness among epsilon VH5 transcripts from three unrelated patients with atopic dermatitis.

Abstract excerpt

We have analyzed the nucleotide sequences of 19 epsilon VH5 transcripts derived from in vivo isotype switched peripheral blood B cells of three patients with atopic dermatitis. Comparison with the patients' own germline VH5 gene segments revealed that the epsilon transcripts were derived from both functional members of the human VH5 gene family and harbored numerous somatic mutations (range 5-36 per VH5 gene). In...

Topics

• Adult
• Amino Acid Sequence
• Base Sequence
• Child
• Dermatitis, Atopic
• Female
• Genes, Immunoglobulin
• Humans
• Immunoglobulin E
• Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains
• Immunoglobulin Variable Region