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T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection

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T cells are integral to our adaptive immune system, recognizing and effectively responding to foreign antigens. T cell activation and clonal selection are pivotal in orchestrating this immune response. This article elucidates these mechanisms, detailing the roles of cluster of differentiation (CD) markers, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, costimulatory signals, and the process of clonal selection.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Examination of Thymic Positive and Negative Selection by Flow Cytometry

Examination of Thymic Positive and Negative Selection by Flow Cytometry

Published on: October 8, 2012

TCR-MHC docking orientation: natural selection, or thymic selection?

Edward J Collins¹, David S Riddle

¹Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 804 Mary Ellen Jones Building, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA. edward_collins@med.unc.edu

Immunologic Research

|August 30, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

T cell receptors (TCR) bind peptide-MHC targets consistently. This conserved orientation may stem from evolutionary selection of key amino acids in TCR and MHC genes, though alternative explanations also exist.

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Area of Science:

Immunology
Evolutionary Biology
Structural Biology

Background:

T cell receptors (TCR) exhibit a conserved docking orientation when binding to their peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) targets.
Amino acid sidechains are critical for the specificity of protein-protein interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the hypothesis that conserved TCR/pMHC binding orientation is driven by evolutionary selection of specific amino acids.
To discuss data supporting and refuting this evolutionary hypothesis.
To present an alternative explanation for the conserved docking orientation.

Main Methods:

Review and analysis of existing data on TCR/pMHC interactions.
Hypothetical modeling based on evolutionary selection principles.

Main Results:

Data exists that both supports and refutes the hypothesis of evolutionary selection for conserved TCR/pMHC docking.
The study discusses expectations derived from the evolutionary hypothesis.

Conclusions:

The conserved docking orientation of TCR on pMHC is a key feature of adaptive immunity.
While evolutionary selection of amino acids is a plausible driver, alternative explanations for this conserved orientation are also considered.