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Use of Single Chain MHC Technology to Investigate Co-agonism in Human CD8+ T Cell Activation
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Published on: February 28, 2019

Cutting edge: single-chain trimers of MHC class I molecules form stable structures that potently stimulate

Yik Y L Yu1, Nikolai Netuschil, Lonnie Lybarger

  • 1Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.

Journal of Immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)
|March 22, 2002
PubMed

We report in this work the expression and characterization of class I molecules expressed as single-chain trimers consisting of an antigenic peptide-spacer-beta(2)-microglobulin-spacer H chain. Our results indicate that these single-chain constructs assemble efficiently, maintain their covalent structure, and are unusually stable at the cell surface. Consequently, these constructs are at least 1000-fold less accessible to exogenous peptide than class I molecules loaded with endogenous peptides, and they are potent simulators of peptide-specific CTL and Abs. Our combined findings suggest that single-chain trimers may have applications as DNA vaccines against virus infection or tumors.

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