Findings on T cell specificity revealed by synthetic combinatorial libraries.
Combinatorial libraries and in particular positional scanning synthetic combinatorial libraries (PS-SCL) allow the study of T cell specificity. This is a systematic and unbiased approach that does not require any previous knowledge about the clones to be studied, neither their specificity nor they major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restriction. Two different types of T cell clone ligands can be identified: (1) peptides that do not necessarily correspond to proteins described in the databases, and (2) peptides that are fragments of natural proteins. In this paper, relevant examples of the application of PS-SCL and the deconvolution strategies followed to identify T cell epitopes for clones of known and unknown specificity will be reviewed. Also, important issues like the immunogenicity of such T cell ligands will be discussed.
Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. cpinilla@tpims.org
Eva
E
Borràs
Roland
R
Martin
Valeria
V
Judkowski
Jacqueline
J
Shukaliak
Yingdong
Y
Zhao
Verena
V
Rubio-Godoy
Danila
D
Valmori
Darcy
D
Wilson
Richard
R
Simon
Richard
R
Houghten
Clemencia
C
Pinilla
D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D019151:Peptide Library; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D008024:Ligands; D019151:Peptide Library