The impact of a large and frequent deletion in the human TCR β locus on antiviral immunity

Brennan, Rebekah M., Petersen, Jan, Neller, Michelle A., Miles, John J., Burrows, Jacqueline M., Smith, Corey, McCluskey, James, Khanna, Rajiv, Rossjohn, Jamie, and Burrows, Scott R. (2012) The impact of a large and frequent deletion in the human TCR β locus on antiviral immunity. Journal of Immunology, 188 (6). pp. 2742-2748.

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Abstract

The TCR plays a critical role in recognizing intracellular pathogens and initiating pathways leading to the destruction of infected cells by the immune system. Although genetic variability is known to greatly impact on the human immune system and the outcome of infection, the influence of sequence variation leading to the inactivation or deletion of TCR gene segments is unknown. To investigate this issue, we examined the CD8⁺ T cell response to an HLA-B7–restricted epitope (²⁶⁵RPHERNGFTVL2²⁷⁵) from the pp65 Ag of human CMV that was highly biased and frequently dominated by a public TCR β-chain encoded by the variable gene segment TRBV4-3. Approximately 40% of humans lack T cells expressing TRBV4-3 because of a 21.5-kb insertion/deletion polymorphism, but these individuals remain responsive to this epitope, using a diverse T cell repertoire characterized by private TCR usage. Although most residues within the bulged 11-mer peptide were accessible for TCR contact, the public and private TCRs showed distinct patterns of sensitivity to amino acid substitution at different positions within the peptide, thereby suggesting that the repertoire diversity generated in the absence of the dominant public TRBV4-3⁺ TCR could lead to better protection from viral escape mutation. Thus, variation in the size of the TRBV repertoire clearly contributes toward interindividual variability in immune responses and is presumably maintained in many ethnic groups to enhance the diversity of Ag-specific T cell responses.

Item ID: 45191
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1550-6606
Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC), C.J. Martin Overseas Biomedical Fellowship (CJMOBF), Dora Lush Scholarship (DLS), Australian Research Council (ARC)
Date Deposited: 17 Aug 2016 02:45
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1107 Immunology > 110702 Applied Immunology (incl Antibody Engineering, Xenotransplantation and T-cell Therapies) @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920108 Immune System and Allergy @ 100%
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