Analyses of the TCR repertoire of MHC class II-restricted innate CD4+ T cells

• Published in: Experimental & molecular medicine pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: 강병현(서울대학교, 민혜숙, 이유정, 최보미, 김은지, 이종훈, 김정래, 조광현, 김태진, 정경천, 박성호
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 생화학분자생물학회 01.03.2015
• Subjects: 생화학
• ISSN: 1226-3613; 2092-6413

Analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of innate CD4+ T cells selected by major histocompatibility complex (MHC)class II-dependent thymocyte–thymocyte (T-T) interaction (T-T CD4+ T cells) is essential for predicting the characteristics of theantigens that bind to these T cells and for distinguishing T-T CD4+ T cells from other types of innate T cells. Using the TCRmini Tg mouse model, we show that the repertoire of TCRα chains in T-T CD4+ T cells was extremely diverse, in contrast to therepertoires previously described for other types of innate T cells. The TCRα chain sequences significantly overlapped between T-T CD4+ T cells and conventional CD4+ T cells in the thymus and spleen. However, the diversity of the TCRα repertoire ofT-T CD4+ T cells seemed to be restricted compared with that of conventional CD4+ T cells. Interestingly, the frequency of the parental OT-II TCRα chains was ignificantly reduced in the process of T-T interaction. This diverse and shifted repertoire in T-T CD4+ T cells has biological relevance in terms of defense against diverse pathogens and a possible regulatory role during peripheral T-T interaction. KCI Citation Count: 4