T-cell-mediated association of peptide antigen and major histocompatibility complex protein detected by energy transfer in an evanescent wave-field

Helper T cells recognize foreign antigen displayed on antigen-presenting cells which also express self-molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) 1 . A single T-cell receptor mediates recognition of both MHC and foreign antigen 2,3 . A proposed ternary complex between T-cell receptor, f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1986-03, Vol.320 (6058), p.179-181
Main Authors: Watts, Tania H., Gaub, Hermann E., McConnell, Harden M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of the immune response. Humoral and cellular immunity
Animals
Antigen-Presenting Cells - immunology
Biochemistry
Biological and medical sciences
Cell interactions
Cellular biology
Energy Transfer
Fluorescein
Fluoresceins
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fundamental immunology
Histocompatibility Antigens Class II - immunology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hybridomas
Immunobiology
Interleukin-2 - biosynthesis
letter
Lipid Bilayers
Macromolecular Substances
Major Histocompatibility Complex
Mice
multidisciplinary
Ovalbumin - immunology
Proteins
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - immunology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer - immunology
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Summary:Helper T cells recognize foreign antigen displayed on antigen-presenting cells which also express self-molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) 1 . A single T-cell receptor mediates recognition of both MHC and foreign antigen 2,3 . A proposed ternary complex between T-cell receptor, foreign antigen and MHC antigen has not yet been demonstrated (see ref. 1 for review). Here, we show that a fluorescein-labelled synthetic peptide, together with Texas red-labelled class II MHC antigen, I–A d , stimulates the production of interleukin-2 by a peptide-specific I–A d -restricted T-cell hybridoma when reconstituted in a lipid membrane on a glass substrate. Under the same conditions, reson-ance-energy transfer from donor peptide to acceptor I–A can be stimulated in an evanescent wave-field only in the presence of the specific T-hybrid. Our results show that the T cell stabilizes an association between peptide antigen and class II MHC protein to within a distance of about 40 Å.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/320179a0