Peptide contributes to the specificity of positive selection of CD8+ T cells in the thymus.
Mice deficient in the gene encoding the peptide transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP1) have drastically reduced levels of surface expression of MHC class I molecules and few CD8+ T cells. Addition of class I binding peptides to cultured fetal thymi from TAP1 mutant mice invariably allowed the rescue of class I expression, while only some of these peptides promoted the positive selection of CD8+ T cells, which were polyclonal and specific for the peptide-MHC complex. A nonselecting peptide was converted to a mixture of selecting peptides when the residues involved in the interaction with TCRs were altered. A mixture of self-peptides derived from C57BL/6 thymi induced positive selection of CD8+ T cells at concentrations that gave relatively low class I surface expression. The implication of these observations is that self-peptides determine, in part, the repertoire of specificities exhibited by CD8+ T cells.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
P G
PG
Ashton-Rickardt
L
L
Van Kaer
T N
TN
Schumacher
H L
HL
Ploegh
S
S
Tonegawa
D000071181:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 2; D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology*
D000071181:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 2; D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D010455:Peptides; C073119:TAP1 protein, human; C486171:Tap1 protein, mouse