T cell receptor V alpha-V beta combinatorial selection in the expressed T cell repertoire.
This study has evaluated whether preferential pairing occurs between TCR alpha- and beta-chains expressing specific V alpha and V beta gene products in the mature peripheral T cell population, as a result of either thymic selection or of structural constraints on chain pairing. The association of specific V alpha products with specific V beta products on individual T cells was found, in multiple instances, to be highly selective. Moreover, patterns of preferential V alpha-V beta association were highly strain-specific and were independently expressed in CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets. Although these findings do not exclude the possibility that structural constraints may limit V alpha-V beta pairing in other instances, they indicate that the observed instances of skewed expression are not caused by structural constraints in chain pairing. Rather, they suggest that strain-specific selective events alter the expressed V alpha V beta repertoire as a result of recognition of self or environmental Ag during T cell repertoire selection.
Vacchio
M S
MS
Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Granger
L
L
Kanagawa
O
O
Malissen
B
B
Tomonari
K
K
Sharrow
S O
SO
Hodes
R J
RJ
D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D015332:Gene Rearrangement, alpha-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D016827:CD8 Antigens; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta