Partial activation of foreign antigen specific T lymphocytes by a self peptide : possible roles of altered peptide ligands in regulating T lymphocyte mediated immune response

• Published in: Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) Germany), 1996-10, Vol.74 (10), p.573-582
• Main Authors: CAO, W, BRACIALE, T. J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of the immune response. Humoral and cellular immunity; Animals; Apoptosis - immunology; Autoantigens - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Exocytosis - immunology; fas Receptor - immunology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Humans; Immunity, Cellular - immunology; Immunobiology; Ligands; Lymphocyte Activation - immunology; Organs and cells involved in the immune response; Peptide Fragments - immunology; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - immunology; Signal Transduction - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - immunology
• ISSN: 0946-2716; 1432-1440
• DOI: 10.1007/s001090050061

T cell interaction with antigenic peptides leads to signal transduction and activation events in the effector cells. Recent studies of T cell responses to subtle variants of antigenic peptides can lead to alterations in the activation state of T cells. A variety of physiological roles for altered peptide ligands have recently been postulated, and their potential therapeutic applications have generated considerable interest. This review summarizes progress made in understanding the T cell signal transduction pathways and the nature of T cell responses to altered peptide ligands. Our recent observation of a self peptide as a partial agonist for a cytotoxic T cell clone directed to a foreign antigen suggests that naturally occurring altered peptide ligands may be important in regulating T cell mediated immune response.