Related Experiment Videos
T cell inducing determinants contain a hierarchy of residues contacting the T cell receptor
B D Evavold1, S G Williams, J S Chen
1Department of Pathology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110.
T cells through their antigen specific T cell receptor recognize a bi-molecular ligand composed of an antigenic peptide bound to a MHC molecule. Several T cell inducing determinants have been extensively characterized by single amino acid substitutions. In this review, we have summarized our characterization of four immunodominant determinants. Each of these determinants possessed a single amino acid residue which was absolutely critical for the recognition by T cells. From these data we propose a hypothesis that there is a hierarchy in the T cell contact residues of a determinant, composed of a single primary residue, and a few secondary residues.
T cells through their antigen specific T cell receptor recognize a bi-molecular ligand composed of an antigenic peptide bound to a MHC molecule. Several T cell inducing determinants have been extensively characterized by single amino acid substitutions. In this review, we have summarized our characterization of four immunodominant determinants. Each of these determinants possessed a single amino acid residue which was absolutely critical for the recognition by T cells. From these data we propose a hypothesis that there is a hierarchy in the T cell contact residues of a determinant, composed of a single primary residue, and a few secondary residues.