Heterogeneity of rat encephalitogenic T cells elicited by variants of the myelin basic protein (68-86) peptide.
By immunizing Lewis rats with myelin basic protein (MBP) peptide variants derived from the major encephalitogenic epitope of guinea pig (MBP(68-88) and then isolating encephalitogenic T cells from these animals, we demonstrated that the variant peptides do not elicit the same encephalitogenic T cell subsets as those induced by the wild-type peptide or by intact MBP. Rather, the pathogenic T cells differed in clonal composition as reflected by their heterogeneous responses to a panel of variant peptides and by their T cell receptor usage. Thus, molecules mimicking the MBP(68-88) autoantigen can elicit pathogenic T cell subsets without necessarily cross-reacting with T cells specific for the original autoantigen. This suggests that a more clonally diverse group of pathogenic T cells might be involved in EAE than has been apparent from studies with intact MBP or its unaltered peptides.
Sun
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Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
Coleclough
C
C
Hu
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XZ
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D004676:Myelin Basic Protein; D010455:Peptides; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell