T-CELL RECEPTOR CLONOTYPES SHARED AMONG ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS PATIENTS

1 . A method for determining a disease status of a patient suffering from, or suspected of suffering from, ankylosing spondylitis, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) obtaining a sample from the patient comprising T-cells;

(b) amplifying molecules of nucleic acid from the T-cells of the sample, the molecules of nucleic acid comprising recombined DNA sequences from T-cell receptor genes;

(c) sequencing the amplified molecules of nucleic acid to form a clonotype profile;

(d) determining from the clonotype profile a presence, an absence and/or a level of clonotypes encoding segments of a T-cell receptor at least seventy percent homologous to a segment in the group consisting of LCASSLEASGSSYNEQFFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 1) and VYFCASSDSSGSTDTQYFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 2); and

(e) correlating the presence, absence and/or level of such clonotypes with a status of ankylosing spondylitis in the patient.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein said step of determining comprises determining said level of said clonotypes encoding said segments of a T-cell receptor at least ninety percent homologous to a segment in the group consisting of LCASSLEASGSSYNEQFFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 1) and VYFCASSDSSGSTDTQYFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 2), and wherein said step of correlating comprises correlating a presence or an elevated level of such clonotypes with ankylosing spondylitis in said patient.

3 . The method of claim 2 further including a step of treating said patient with a medication for ameliorating effects of ankylosing spondylititis whenever said level of said clonotypes encoding said segments of a T-cell receptor at least ninety percent homologous to a segment in the group consisting of LCASSLEASGSSYNEQFFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 1) and VYFCASSDSSGSTDTQYFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 2) are elevated.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein said medication is selected from the group consisting of an effective amount of an anti-inflammatory drug, a disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD), and a TNFα blocker.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein said sample is a peripheral blood sample.

6 . A method for determining a disease status of a patient suffering from, or suspected of suffering from, ankylosing spondylitis, the method comprising the steps of: determining in a clonotype profile of a tissue sample of the patient the presence, absence and/or quantity of clonotypes encoding segments of a T-cell receptor at least ninety percent homologous to a segment in the group consisting of LCASSLEASGSSYNEQFFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 1) and VYFCASSDSSGSTDTQYFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 2);

correlating a presence or an elevation in a level of such clonotypes to a presence of ankylosing spondylitis in the patient; and

treating the patient with an effective amount of a medication selected from the group consisting of an anti-inflammatory drug, a disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD), and a TNFα blocker.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein said elevated level of said clonotype is at least 0.00001 percent of clonotypes in said clonotype profile.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein said elevated level of said clonotype is at least 0.0001 percent of clonotypes in said clonotype profile.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein said elevated level of said clonotype is at least 0.001 percent of clonotypes in said clonotype profile.

10 . An isolated antibody specific for an amino acid segment of a T cell receptor, the amino acid segment being selected from the group consisting of LCASSLEASGSSYNEQFFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 1) and any 6 to 20 amino acid segment thereof and VYFCASSDSSGSTDTQYFGPGTRLTV (SEQ ID NO: 2) and any 6 to 20 amino acid segment thereof.

11 . (canceled)