Failure to find holes in the T-cell repertoire

Abstract

The ability of an animal to respond to a given antigenic peptide depends on its major histocompatibility complex (MHC) type¹. Some peptides are not immunogenic when combined with a particular form of the MHC-encoded molecule. This non-responsiveness is regulated by immune response (Ir) genes and is thought to arise by one of two distinct mechanisms. Either the MHC-encoded molecules physically fail to interact with the antigen, preventing the activation of T cells with appropriate receptors, or they limit the expressed repertoire of T cell clones so that no T cells are available to be activated by existing complexes of MHC-encoded molecules and antigen². Experimental evidence has been generated to support both mechanisms (reviewed in ref. 1). However, the relative importance of each has not been clearly established. In this study we started with a peptide that was immunogenic in BIO mice; it was thus known to be able to interact with the MHC molecule, and T cells existed which could recognise the peptide–MHC complex. Based on previous experiments³, we then changed only those parts of the peptide that we thought interacted with the T-cell receptor. All the new analogues created were still immunogenic, confirming that the amino-acid substitutions that we had made did not prevent productive interactions with the MHC-encoded molecule. No limitations ('holes') in the T-cell repertoire were found. The experiments demonstrate the vast potential of the T-cell population to recognize many different analogues, each in a unique way, and suggest that constraints on the diversity of the T-cell repertoire may not be a major explanation for Ir gene defects.