Figure 3. Islet-infiltrating CD4⁺CD44^high cells from prediabetic and diabetic mice exhibit the same dominant TRBV gene restriction.

Islet-infiltrating CD4⁺CD44^high cells were sorted from prediabetic (A, C, E) and diabetic (B, D, F) mice and the CDR3β regions were sequenced. The average frequency of TRBV gene segment usage is shown for all clonotypes (A and B), rare clonotypes (C and D), and high-frequency clonotypes (E and F). Each TRBV gene segment is represented by a slice proportional to its frequency. TRBV4, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 30 genes were used at very low frequencies and are not shown in the graphs.