title: Cooperative enhancement of specificity in a lattice of T cell receptors.
abstract: Two of the most important models to account for the specificity and sensitivity of the T cell receptor (TCR) are the kinetic proofreading and serial ligation models. However, although kinetic proofreading provides a means for individual TCRs to measure accurately the length of time they are engaged and signal appropriately, the stochastic nature of ligand dissociation means the kinetic proofreading model implies that at high concentrations the response of the cell will be relatively nonspecific. Recent ligand experiments have revealed the phenomenon of both negative and positive crosstalk among neighboring TCRs. By using a Monte Carlo simulation of a lattice of TCRs, we integrate receptor crosstalk with the kinetic proofreading and serial ligation models and discover that receptor cooperativity can enhance T cell specificity significantly at a very modest cost to the sensitivity of the response.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics and Its Applications, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stark
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D008954:Models, Biological; D020239:Receptor Cross-Talk; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell