T-cell recognition of a chimaeric class II/class I MHC molecule and the role of L3T4

Abstract

In addition to expressing clonally distributed antigen-specific and major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted receptors, T cells also express non-clonally distributed surface molecules that are involved in T-cell function. Among the most intriguing of the latter are L3T4 and Lyt 2, which are expressed on individual T lymphocytes in striking, though not absolute, concordance with their restriction by either class II or class I MHC determinants1-5, and which are thought to contribute to the overall avidity of T-cell interactions by binding to monomorphic determinants on class II and class I MHC molecules, respectively1-9. To examine the ability of T cells to recognize a single class II..