title: Functional development of the T cell receptor for antigen.
abstract: For over three decades now, the T cell receptor (TCR) for antigen has not ceased to challenge the imaginations of cellular and molecular immunologists alike. T cell antigen recognition transcends every aspect of adaptive immunity: it shapes the T cell repertoire in the thymus and directs T cell-mediated effector functions in the periphery, where it is also central to the induction of peripheral tolerance. Yet, despite its central position, there remain many questions unresolved: how can one TCR be specific for one particular peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) ligand while also binding other pMHC ligands with an immunologically relevant affinity? And how can a T cell's extreme specificity (alterations of single methyl groups in their ligand can abrogate a response) and sensitivity (single agonist ligands on a cell surface are sufficient to trigger a measurable response) emerge from TCR-ligand interactions that are so low in affinity? Solving these questions is intimately tied to a fundamental understanding of molecular recognition dynamics within the many different contexts of various T cell-antigen presenting cell (APC) contacts: from the thymic APCs that shape the TCR repertoire and guide functional differentiation of developing T cells to the peripheral APCs that support homeostasis and provoke antigen responses in naïve, effector, memory, and regulatory T cells. Here, we discuss our recent findings relating to T cell antigen recognition and how this leads to the thymic development of foreign-antigen-responsive alphabetaT cells.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Peter J R
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: Qi-Jing
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Johannes B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Huppa
authors.forename: Mark M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
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