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The T Cell Antigen Receptor Expressed by Vα14i NKT Cells Has a Unique Mode of Glycosphingolipid Antigen Recognition
Natural killer (NK) T cells with an invariant Vα14 rearrangement (Vα14i) are the largest population of lipid antigen-specific T lymphocytes identified in animals. They react to the glycolipid α-galactosyl ceramide (α-GalCer) presented by CD1d, and they may have important regulatory functions. It was...
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Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2004-08, Vol.101 (33), p.12254-12259 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Natural killer (NK) T cells with an invariant Vα14 rearrangement (Vα14i) are the largest population of lipid antigen-specific T lymphocytes identified in animals. They react to the glycolipid α-galactosyl ceramide (α-GalCer) presented by CD1d, and they may have important regulatory functions. It was previously shown that the Vα14i T cell antigen receptor (TCR) has a high affinity for the α-GalCer/CD1d complex, driven by a long half-life (t1/2). Although this result could have reflected the unique attributes of α-GalCer, using several related glycolipid compounds, we show here that the threshold for full activation of Vα14i NKT cells by these glycosphingolipids requires a relatively high-affinity TCR interaction with a long t1/2. Furthermore, our data are consistent with the view that the mechanism of recognition of these compounds presented by CD1d to the Vα14i NKT cell TCR is likely to fit a lock-and-key model. Overall, these findings emphasize the distinct properties of glycosphingolipid antigen recognition by Vα14i NKT cells. |
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ISSN: | 0027-8424 1091-6490 |
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.0404632101 |