摘要Background Arthritogenic T lymphocytes with common T cell receptor (TCR) Vβ clonotypes, infiltrating in the articulars of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, play a central role in the pathogenesis of RA. TCR Vβ5.2 and TCR Vβ8.2 are the main pathogenic T cell clonotypes in the course of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) progression in Lewis rats. To investigate a TCR-based immunotherapy for RA, we constructed recombinant DNA vaccines encoding TCR Vβ5.2 and TCR Vβ8.2, and evaluated the inhibitive effects of the two vaccines on CIA rats. Methods Genes encoding TCR Vβ5.2 and TCR Vβ8.2 were amplified by RT-PCR from spleen lymphocytes of Lewis rats and cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pTargeT. The expression of vaccines was confirmed by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The inhibitive effects of the vaccines on articulars of CIA rats were assessed with arthritis index evaluation and histology. Interferon γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin (IL)-4 production by spleen lymphocytes were tested with enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) technique, the changes in peripheral CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte populations were tested by flow cytometry, and the level of anti-CII antibody in serum was assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results Recombinant DNA vaccines pTargeToTCR Vβ5.2 and pTargeT-pTCR Vβ8.2 were successfully constructed. Both vaccines inhibited CIA, which alleviated the arthritis index score (P<0.05), decreased the level of IFN-γ (P<0.05), and reduced the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ lymphocytes (P<0.05) and the anti-CII antibody in serum (P<0.05). In addition, the histological change in DNA-vaccinated rats was less serious than CIA rats. Compared to pTCR Vβ 8.2 and pTCR Vβ5.2 groups, the group that was injected with a combination of the two vaccines showed stronger inhibitive effects on CIA than either individual vaccine.Conclusion The recombinant plasmids pTargeT-TCR Vβ5.2 and pTargeT-TCR Vβ8.2 have obvious inhibatory effects on CIA rats and better effects could be achieved when the vaccines were used in combination.