PBMC and CD4^–CD8^– DN T cells from patients and normal controls were examined for Vα24JαQ expression by the Southern blot technique. (a and c) Vα24JαQ TCR transcripts are shown. (b and d) For the housekeeping gene HPRT expressions in the same subjects. (a) Expression of Vα24JαQ mRNA in the peripheral blood of IMD patients (lanes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11) are compared with normal controls (lanes 3 and 12). Lanes 7 and 8 compare the TCR expression in the DN population between controls and patients, respectively. Lane 13 is the negative control. (c) This figure part compares the expression of canonical Vα24JαQ transcripts in the patients with type 2 diabetes (lanes 1, 2, and 3) with a normal control (lane 4). Lane 5 is the negative control. The arrows indicate the position of the invariant Vα24JαQ and HPRT bands. (e) The relative expression intensities of the canonical Vα24JαQ TCR as normalized to HPRT gene expression in controls, IMD patients, and patients with type 2 diabetes are shown. The mRNA levels were all determined by RT-PCR followed by quantification of radiolabel by phosphorimaging. Shown in e are the mean levels of Vα24JαQ calibrated to the amount of HPRT gene expression in the sample. The bars indicate means plus 1 SE. Significant differences from the normal control group are *P < 0.05 and ** P < 0.01.