Peptide-MHC Class I Tetramers Can Fail To Detect Relevant Functional T Cell Clonotypes and Underestimate Antigen-Reactive T Cell Populations.

ABSTRACT: Peptide-MHC (pMHC) multimers, usually used as streptavidin-based tetramers, have transformed the study of Ag-specific T cells by allowing direct detection, phenotyping, and enumeration within polyclonal T cell populations. These reagents are now a standard part of the immunology toolkit and have been used in many thousands of published studies. Unfortunately, the TCR-affinity threshold required for staining with standard pMHC multimer protocols is higher than that required for efficient T cell activation. This discrepancy makes it possible for pMHC multimer staining to miss fully functional T cells, especially where low-affinity TCRs predominate, such as in MHC class II-restricted responses or those directed against self-antigens. Several recent, somewhat alarming, reports indicate that pM

SUBMITTER: Rius C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5857646 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature