Thymoproteasome subunit-β5T generates peptide-MHC complexes specialized for positive selection.

ABSTRACT: Cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) express a unique thymoproteasome subunit-β5T that plays an essential role in the development of CD8 T cells. In contrast, the immunoproteasome subunit-β5i is expressed in other thymic antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The thymoproteasome may generate peptides that are specialized for positive selection, or it may simply serve to generate peptides that are distinct from other APCs that cause negative selection, thereby promoting an overall larger number of surviving clones to mature and function in the immune system. To distinguish these models, we genetically engineered mice to express distinct peptide repertoires in cTECs vs. other APCs without expressing β5T, by generating β5t(5i) knockin mice, in which β5i replaced β5T in cTECs. When such animals

SUBMITTER: Xing Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3637736 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature