title: High sensitivity, low affinity--paradox of T-cell receptor recognition.
abstract: The recent findings demonstrating the unexpected low affinity of a T-cell receptor towards its ligand have created a puzzle, as the high sensitivity and exquisite specificity of T cells and the low affinity of T-cell receptors are, at first glance, not compatible features. However, the close scrutiny of the parameters of T-cell antigen recognition in the actual space where ligation events occur has revealed that the low affinity of the T-cell receptor is perfectly compatible with T-cell function.
authors.affiliation: Basel Institute for Immunology, Switzerland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karjalainen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell