On the composition of the preimmune repertoire of T cells specific for Peptide-major histocompatibility complex ligands.
Annu Rev Immunol
; 28: 275-94, 2010.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20307209
Millions of T cells are produced in the thymus, each expressing a unique alpha/beta T cell receptor (TCR) capable of binding to a foreign peptide in the binding groove of a host major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule. T cell-mediated immunity to infection is due to the proliferation and differentiation of rare clones in the preimmune repertoire that by chance express TCRs specific for peptide-MHC (pMHC) ligands derived from the microorganism. Here we review recent findings that have altered our understanding of how the preimmune repertoire is established. Recent structural studies indicate that a germline-encoded tendency of TCRs to bind MHC molecules contributes to the MHC bias of T cell repertoires. It has also become clear that the preimmune repertoire contains functionally heterogeneous subsets including recent thymic emigrants, mature naive phenotype cells, memory phenotype cells, and natural regulatory T cells. In addition, sensitive new detection methods have revealed that the repertoire of naive phenotype T cells consists of distinct pMHC-specific populations that consistently vary in size in different individuals. The implications of these new findings for the clonal selection theory, self-tolerance, and immunodominance are discussed.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Peptídeos
/
Linfócitos T
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Complexo Principal de Histocompatibilidade
Limite:
Animals
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Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2010
Tipo de documento:
Article