Comparative T Cell Receptor Repertoire Selection by Antigen after Adoptive Transfer: A Glimpse at an Antigen-Specific Preimmune Repertoire

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 97; no. 15; pp. 8473 - 8478
• Main Authors: Attuil, Valerie, Bucher, Philipp, Rossi, Mauricette, Mutin, Mireille, Maryanski, Janet L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 18.07.2000; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Adoptive transfer; Adoptive Transfer - methods; AIDS/HIV; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological Sciences; CD8 antigen; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cells; Cellular immunity; Computer based modeling; DNA, Complementary; Female; Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte; HLA-C Antigens - immunology; Immune system; Immunization; Immunology; L-Selectin - immunology; Mice; Mice, Inbred DBA; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleotide sequences; Polymerase chain reaction; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - genetics; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - immunology; Rodents; Spleen; Spleen - cytology; Spleen - immunology; Spleen cells; T cell antigen receptors; T lymphocytes
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.97.15.8473

The low frequency of precursor cells specific for any particular antigen (Ag) makes it difficult to characterize preimmune T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires and to understand repertoire selection during an immune response. We have undertaken a combined adoptive transfer single-cell PCR approach to probe the Ag-specific preimmune repertoires of individual mice. Our strategy was to inject paired irradiated recipient mice with normal spleen cells prepared from individual donors and to compare the TCR repertoires subsequently selected during a CD8 response to a defined model Ag. We found that although some TCRs were shared, the TCR repertoires selected by mice receiving splenocytes from the same donor were not identical in terms of the TCRs selected and their relative frequencies. Our results together with computer simulations imply that individual mice express distinct Ag-specific preimmune TCR repertoires composed of expanded clones and that selection by Ag is a random process.