Journal article

Germline-encoded recognition of diverse glycolipids by natural killer T cells

James P Scott-Browne, Jennifer L Matsuda, Thierry Mallevaey, Janice White, Natalie A Borg, James McCluskey, Jamie Rossjohn, John Kappler, Philippa Marrack, Laurent Gapin

NATURE IMMUNOLOGY | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2007

Abstract

Natural killer T cells expressing 'invariant' T cell receptor alpha-chains (TCRalpha chains) containing variable (V) and joining (J) region V(alpha)14-J(alpha)18 (V(alpha)14i) rearrangements recognize both endogenous and microbial glycolipids in the context of CD1d. How cells expressing an invariant TCRalpha chain and a restricted set of TCRbeta chains recognize structurally diverse antigens is not clear. Here we show that a V(alpha)14i TCR recognized many alpha-linked glycolipids by means of a 'hot-spot' of germline-encoded amino acids in complementarity-determining regions 3alpha, 1alpha and 2beta. This hot-spot did not shift during the recognition of structurally distinct antigens, sugges..

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