Discovery of invariant T cells by next-generation sequencing of the human TCR α-chain repertoire.

ABSTRACT: During infection and autoimmune disease, activation and expansion of T cells take place. Consequently, the TCR repertoire contains information about ongoing and past diseases. Analysis and interpretation of the human TCR repertoire are hampered by its size and stochastic variation and by the diversity of Ags and Ag-presenting molecules encoded by the MHC, but are highly desirable and would greatly impact fundamental and clinical immunology. A subset of the TCR repertoire is formed by invariant T cells. Invariant T cells express interdonor-conserved TCRs and recognize a limited set of Ags, presented by nonpolymorphic Ag-presenting molecules. Discovery of the three known invariant T cell populations has been a tedious and slow process, identifying them one by one. Because conservation of the

SUBMITTER: van Schaik B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4225161 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature