Project description:Virus-specific CD8 T cells from PBMCs of healthy donors and hepatitis patients were enriched for recognition of a panel of feature barcode-labeled pMHC multimers. The phenotypic description was made using gene expression and TCRseq. Samples were pooled and sequenced on the same 10x Genomics sequencing chip and deconvoluted using ADT HashTag antibodies,
Project description:Developmental checkpoints in stem/progenitor cells are critical to the determination, commitment and differentiation into distinct lineages. Cancer cells often retain expression of lineage-specific checkpoint proteins, but their potential impact in cancer remains elusive. T lymphocytes mature in the thymus following a highly orchestrated developmental process that entails the successive rearrangements and expression of T-cell receptor (TCR) genes. Low affinity recognition of self-peptide/MHC complexes (self-pMHC) presented by thymic epithelial cells by the TCR of CD4+CD8+ (DP) cortical thymocytes transduces positive selection signals that ultimately shape the developing T cell repertoire. DP thymocytes not receiving these signals die by lack of stimulation whereas those that recognize self-pMHC with high affinity undergo TCR-mediated apoptosis and negative selection. In T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL), leukaemic transformation of maturating thymocytes results from the acquisition of multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations in oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, that disrupt the normal regulatory circuits and drive clonal expansion of differentiation-arrested lymphoblasts. We show here that TCR triggering by negatively-selecting self-pMHC prevented T-ALL development and leukaemia maintenance in mice. Induction of TCR signalling by high affinity self-pMHC or treatment with monoclonal antibodies to the CD3 signalling chain (anti-CD3) caused massive leukaemic cell death and a gene expression program resembling that of thymocyte negative selection. Importantly, anti-CD3 treatment hampered leukaemogenesis in mice transplanted with either mouse or patient-derived T-ALLs. These data provide a rationale for targeted therapy based on anti-CD3 treatment of T-ALL patients and demonstrate that endogenous developmental checkpoint proteins are amenable to therapeutic intervention in cancer cells. Gene expression data from four culture conditions was performed for the following cells: ALL-SIL-TCRα/β-GFP co-cultured on OP9-DL1 for 48 h, ALL-SIL-TCRα/β-GFP without co-culture, ALL-SIL cells transduced with TLX shRNA (sh-TLX), and ALL-SIL transduced with sh-control vectors. All conditions are performed in two replicates.
Project description:Peptide exchange technologies are essential for the generation of pMHC-multimer libraries for probing diverse, polyclonal TCR repertoires in various settings. Here we report, using the molecular chaperone TAPBPR, a robust method for the capture of stable, empty MHC-I molecules, which can be readily tetramerized and loaded with peptides of choice in a high-throughput manner. Alternatively, catalytic amounts of TAPBPR can be used to exchange ‘goldilocks’ peptides with high-affinity peptides of interest in an overnight reaction. Using the same system, we describe high-throughput assays to validate binding of multiple candidate peptides on the empty MHCI groove. Combined with tetramer-barcoding via a multi-modal cellular indexing technology, ECCITE-seq, our approach allows a combined analysis of TCR repertoires and other T-cell transcription profiles together with their cognate pMHC-I specificities in a single experiment.
Project description:Developmental checkpoints in stem/progenitor cells are critical to the determination, commitment and differentiation into distinct lineages. Cancer cells often retain expression of lineage-specific checkpoint proteins, but their potential impact in cancer remains elusive. T lymphocytes mature in the thymus following a highly orchestrated developmental process that entails the successive rearrangements and expression of T-cell receptor (TCR) genes. Low affinity recognition of self-peptide/MHC complexes (self-pMHC) presented by thymic epithelial cells by the TCR of CD4+CD8+ (DP) cortical thymocytes transduces positive selection signals that ultimately shape the developing T cell repertoire. DP thymocytes not receiving these signals die by lack of stimulation whereas those that recognize self-pMHC with high affinity undergo TCR-mediated apoptosis and negative selection. In T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL), leukaemic transformation of maturating thymocytes results from the acquisition of multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations in oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, that disrupt the normal regulatory circuits and drive clonal expansion of differentiation-arrested lymphoblasts. We show here that TCR triggering by negatively-selecting self-pMHC prevented T-ALL development and leukaemia maintenance in mice. Induction of TCR signalling by high affinity self-pMHC or treatment with monoclonal antibodies to the CD3 signalling chain (anti-CD3) caused massive leukaemic cell death and a gene expression program resembling that of thymocyte negative selection. Importantly, anti-CD3 treatment hampered leukaemogenesis in mice transplanted with either mouse or patient-derived T-ALLs. These data provide a rationale for targeted therapy based on anti-CD3 treatment of T-ALL patients and demonstrate that endogenous developmental checkpoint proteins are amenable to therapeutic intervention in cancer cells.
Project description:The avidity of the T-cell receptor (TCR) for antigenic peptides presented by the MHC (pMHC) on cells is an essential parameter for efficient T cell-mediated immunity. Yet, whether the TCR-ligand avidity can drive the clonal evolution of virus antigen-specific CD8 T cells, and how this process is determined in latent Cytomegalovirus (CMV)- against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-mediated infection remains largely unknown. Here, we quantified monomeric TCR-pMHC dissociation rates on CMV- and EBV-specific individual TCR-alpha-beta clonotypes and polyclonal CD8 T cell populations in healthy donors over a follow-up time of 15-18 years. Within CMV/pp65-specific T cell repertoires, a progressive contraction of clonotypes with high TCR-pMHC avidity and low CD8 binding dependency was observed, leading to an overall avidity decline during long-term antigen exposure. We identified a unique transcriptional signature preferentially expressed by high-avidity CMV/pp65-specific T cell clonotypes, including the inhibitory receptor LILRB1. Interestingly, T cell clonotypes of high-avidity showed higher LILRB1 expression than the low-avidity ones and LILRB1 blockade moderately increased T cell proliferation. Similar findings were made for CD8 T cell repertoires specific for the CMV/IE-1 epitope. There was a gradual in vivo loss of high-avidity T cells with time for both CMV specificities, corresponding to virus-specific CD8 T cells expressing enhanced LILRB1 levels. In sharp contrast, the EBV/BMFL1-specific T cell clonal composition and distribution, once established, displayed an exceptional stability, unrelated to TCR-pMHC binding avidity or LILRB1 expression. Together, these findings reveal an overall long-term avidity decline of CMV- but not EBV-specific T cell clonal repertoires, highlighting the differing role played by TCR-ligand avidity over the course of these two latent herpesvirus infections. Our data suggest that the inhibitor receptor LILRB1 potentially restricts the clonal expansion of high-avidity CMV-specific T cell clonotypes during latent infection. We propose that the mechanisms regulating the long-term outcome of CMV- and EBV-specific memory CD8 T cell clonotypes in humans are distinct.
Project description:A major unanswered question is how a TCR discriminates between foreign and self-peptides presented on the APC surface. Here, we used in situ fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to measure the distances of single TCR-pMHC bonds and the conformations of individual TCR-CD3ζ receptors at the membranes of live primary T cells. We found that a TCR discriminates between closely related peptides by forming single TCR-pMHC bonds with different conformations, and the most potent pMHC forms the shortest bond. The bond conformation is an intrinsic property that is independent of the binding affinity and kinetics, TCR microcluster formation, and CD4 binding. The bond conformation dictates the degree of CD3ζ dissociation from the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane via a positive calcium signaling feedback loop to precisely control the accessibility of CD3ζ ITAMs for phosphorylation. Our data revealed the mechanism by which a TCR deciphers the structural differences among peptides via the TCR-pMHC bond conformation.
Project description:Naïve T cells constantly experience TCR signals in response to self-peptides presented by MHC (pMHC) in vivo. The intensity of these basal or tonic TCR signals can be indirectly read out by expression of surrogate markers of tonic TCR signaling, including the Nur77-GFP transgene and Ly6c. The strength of tonic TCR signaling varies broadly across the naïve CD4+ T cell population and is correlated with functional heterogeneity.Cells that experience the most basal TCR signaling (Nur77-GFP hi, Ly6c lo) are hyporesponsive to peptide-MHC stimulation. Here we examine whether tonic TCR stimulation is associated with differences in chromatin accessibility.
Project description:Naïve T cells constantly experience TCR signals in response to self-peptides presented by MHC (pMHC) in vivo. The intensity of these basal or tonic TCR signals can be indirectly read out by expression of surrogate markers of tonic TCR signaling, including the Nur77-GFP transgene and Ly6c. The strength of tonic TCR signaling varies broadly across the naïve CD4+ T cell population and is correlated with functional heterogeneity.Cells that experience the most basal TCR signaling (Nur77-GFP hi, Ly6c lo) are hyporesponsive to peptide-MHC stimulation. Here we examine whether tonic TCR stimulation is associated with differences in mRNA expression.