Differences in antigen recognition and cytolytic activity of CD8+ and CD8− T cells that express the same antigen-specific receptor
- Bryan K. Cho*,
- Kuo-Chiang Lian*,
- Peter Lee†,
- Anders Brunmark‡,
- Carol McKinley*,
- Jianzhu Chen*,
- David M. Kranz†, and
- Herman N. Eisen*,§
- *Center for Cancer Research and Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; ‡R. W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, San Diego, CA 92121; and †Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
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Contributed by Herman N. Eisen
Abstract
CD8+ and CD8− T cell lines expressing the same antigen-specific receptor [the 2C T cell receptor (TCR)] were compared for ability to bind soluble peptide-MHC and to lyse target cells. The 2C TCR on CD8− cells bound a syngeneic MHC (Kb+)-peptide complex 10–100 times less well than the same TCR on CD8+ cells, and the CD8− 2C cells lysed target cells presenting this complex very poorly. Surprisingly, however, the CD8− cells differed little from CD8+ cells in ability to bind an allogeneic MHC (Ld+)-peptide complex and to lyse target cells presenting this complex. The CD8+/CD8− difference provided an opportunity to estimate how long TCR engagements with peptide-MHC have to persist to initiate the cytolytic T cell response.
Footnotes
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↵ § To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: hneisen{at}mit.edu.
- Abbreviations:
- TCR,
- T cell receptor;
- pepMHC,
- peptide-MHC;
- APC,
- antigen-presenting cell;
- CTL,
- cytotoxic T lymphocyte
- Copyright © 2001, The National Academy of Sciences
