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The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system

The mammalian T cell receptor (TCR) orchestrates immunity by responding to many billions of different ligands that it has never encountered before and cannot adapt to at the protein sequence level. This remarkable receptor exists in two main heterodimeric isoforms: αβ TCR and γδ TCR. The αβ TCR is e...

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Autores principales: Attaf, M, Legut, M, Cole, D K, Sewell, A K
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BlackWell Publishing Ltd 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4469151/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25753381
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cei.12622
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author Attaf, M
Legut, M
Cole, D K
Sewell, A K
author_facet Attaf, M
Legut, M
Cole, D K
Sewell, A K
author_sort Attaf, M
collection PubMed
description The mammalian T cell receptor (TCR) orchestrates immunity by responding to many billions of different ligands that it has never encountered before and cannot adapt to at the protein sequence level. This remarkable receptor exists in two main heterodimeric isoforms: αβ TCR and γδ TCR. The αβ TCR is expressed on the majority of peripheral T cells. Most αβ T cells recognize peptides, derived from degraded proteins, presented at the cell surface in molecular cradles called major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Recent reports have described other αβ T cell subsets. These ‘unconventional’ T cells bear TCRs that are capable of recognizing lipid ligands presented in the context of the MHC-like CD1 protein family or bacterial metabolites bound to the MHC-related protein 1 (MR1). γδ T cells constitute a minority of the T cell pool in human blood, but can represent up to half of total T cells in tissues such as the gut and skin. The identity of the preferred ligands for γδ T cells remains obscure, but it is now known that this receptor can also functionally engage CD1-lipid, or immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily proteins called butyrophilins in the presence of pyrophosphate intermediates of bacterial lipid biosynthesis. Interactions between TCRs and these ligands allow the host to discriminate between self and non-self and co-ordinate an attack on the latter. Here, we describe how cells of the T lymphocyte lineage and their antigen receptors are generated and discuss the various modes of antigen recognition by these extraordinarily versatile receptors.
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spelling pubmed-44691512016-06-24 The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system Attaf, M Legut, M Cole, D K Sewell, A K Clin Exp Immunol Review Article The mammalian T cell receptor (TCR) orchestrates immunity by responding to many billions of different ligands that it has never encountered before and cannot adapt to at the protein sequence level. This remarkable receptor exists in two main heterodimeric isoforms: αβ TCR and γδ TCR. The αβ TCR is expressed on the majority of peripheral T cells. Most αβ T cells recognize peptides, derived from degraded proteins, presented at the cell surface in molecular cradles called major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Recent reports have described other αβ T cell subsets. These ‘unconventional’ T cells bear TCRs that are capable of recognizing lipid ligands presented in the context of the MHC-like CD1 protein family or bacterial metabolites bound to the MHC-related protein 1 (MR1). γδ T cells constitute a minority of the T cell pool in human blood, but can represent up to half of total T cells in tissues such as the gut and skin. The identity of the preferred ligands for γδ T cells remains obscure, but it is now known that this receptor can also functionally engage CD1-lipid, or immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily proteins called butyrophilins in the presence of pyrophosphate intermediates of bacterial lipid biosynthesis. Interactions between TCRs and these ligands allow the host to discriminate between self and non-self and co-ordinate an attack on the latter. Here, we describe how cells of the T lymphocyte lineage and their antigen receptors are generated and discuss the various modes of antigen recognition by these extraordinarily versatile receptors. BlackWell Publishing Ltd 2015-07 2015-05-14 /pmc/articles/PMC4469151/ /pubmed/25753381 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cei.12622 Text en © 2015 The Authors Clinical & Experimental Immunology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Society for Immunology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Attaf, M
Legut, M
Cole, D K
Sewell, A K
The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system
title The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system
title_full The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system
title_fullStr The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system
title_full_unstemmed The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system
title_short The T cell antigen receptor: the Swiss army knife of the immune system
title_sort t cell antigen receptor: the swiss army knife of the immune system
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4469151/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25753381
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cei.12622
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