Parsing digital or analog TCR performance through piconewton forces.

ABSTRACT: αβ T cell receptors (TCRs) principally recognize aberrant peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex molecules (pMHCs) on unhealthy cells, amplifying specificity and sensitivity through physical load placed on the TCR-pMHC bond during immunosurveillance. To understand this mechanobiology, TCRs stimulated by abundantly and sparsely arrayed epitopes (NP_366-374/D^b and PA_224-233/D^b, respectively) following in vivo influenza A virus infection were studied with optical tweezers. While certain NP repertoire CD8 T lymphocytes require many ligands for activation, others are digital, needing just few. Conversely, all PA TCRs perform digitally, exhibiting pronounced bond lifetime increases through sustained, energizing volleys of structural transiti

SUBMITTER: Akitsu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11323890 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature