T cell receptor repertoire usage in allotransplantation: an overview.
Lymphocytes express antigen receptors that allow the immune system to specifically recognize antigens. In transplantation, T cells play a critical role in the rejection process, and different protocols inhibiting T cell-mediated alloreactivity efficiently achieve prolongation of allograft survival. T cells can interact with alloantigens by two ways, either by the "indirect" pathway that correspond to the physiological mechanism of T cell immune recognition, or through the "direct" pathway where they recognize alloantigens directly on the surface of donor cells. If some T cells are specifically activated in allorecognition, one should be able to indirectly detect this "selection" by analyzing the T cell receptor usage that could be biased and reflect the preferential amplification of alloreactive lymphocyte subsets. Nevertheless compared with disease states such as cancer or autoimmunity the T cell receptor repertoire is still largely uncharacterized. We review the current results available on T cell repertoire usage in transplantation studies involving humans or various animal models. The T cell receptor repertoire involved in transplantation (restricted or unrestricted) and the features potentially common to alloimmune responses will be discussed.
Douillard
P
P
Institut de Transplantation et de Recherche en Transplantation, Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM U437), NANTES, France.
Cuturi
M C
MC
Brouard
S
S
Josien
R
R
Soulillou
J P
JP
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007519:Isoantigens / Q000378:metabolism*; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000276:immunology*
D007519:Isoantigens; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell