Crossreactive [alpha][beta] T Cell Receptors Are the Predominant Targets of Thymocyte Negative Selection

• Published in: Immunity (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 43; no. 5; p. 859
• Main Authors: McDonald, Benjamin D, Bunker, Jeffrey J, Erickson, Steven A, Oh-Hora, Masatsugu, Bendelac, Albert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Limited 17.11.2015
• Subjects: Cloning; Experiments; Haplotypes; Lymphocytes; Peptides; Statistical analysis; Studies; T cell receptors; Transgenic animals
• ISSN: 1074-7613; 1097-4180
• DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2015.09.009

The precise impact of thymic positive and negative selection on the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire remains controversial. Here, we used unbiased, high-throughput cloning and retroviral expression of individual pre-selection TCRs to provide a direct assessment of these processes at the clonal level in vivo. We found that 15% of random TCRs induced signaling and directed positive (7.5%) or negative (7.5%) selection, depending on strength of signal, whereas the remaining 85% failed to induce signaling or selection. Most negatively selected TCRs exhibited promiscuous crossreactivity toward multiple other major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotypes. In contrast, TCRs that were positively selected or non-selected were minimally crossreactive. Negative selection of crossreactive TCRs led to clonal deletion but also recycling into intestinal CD4-CD8β-intraepithelial lymphocytes (iIELs). Thus, broadly crossreactive TCRs arise at low frequency in the pre-selection repertoire but constitute the primary drivers of thymic negative selection and iIEL lineage differentiation.