The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1999/1/195/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 189, Number 1, January 4, 1999 195-205


Articles

Molecular Recognition of Lipid Antigens by T Cell Receptors

Ethan P. Grant*, Massimo Degano{ddagger}, Jean-Pierre Rosat*, Steffen Stenger§, Robert L. Modlin§, Ian A. Wilson{ddagger}, Steven A. Porcelli*, and Michael B. Brenner*

From the * Lymphocyte Biology Section, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; the {ddagger} Department of Molecular Biology and Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037; and the § Division of Dermatology, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095

The T cell antigen receptor (TCR) mediates recognition of peptide antigens bound in the groove of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. This dual recognition is mediated by the complementarity-determining residue (CDR) loops of the {alpha} and β chains of a single TCR which contact exposed residues of the peptide antigen and amino acids along the MHC {alpha} helices. The recent description of T cells that recognize hydrophobic microbial lipid antigens has challenged immunologists to explain, in molecular terms, the nature of this interaction. Structural studies on the murine CD1d1 molecule revealed an electrostatically neutral putative antigen-binding groove beneath the CD1 {alpha} helices. Here, we demonstrate that {alpha} TCRs, when transferred into TCR-deficient recipient cells, confer specificity for both the foreign lipid antigen and CD1 isoform. Sequence analysis of a panel of CD1-restricted, lipid-specific TCRs reveals the incorporation of template-independent N nucleotides that encode diverse sequences and frequent charged basic residues at the V(D)J junctions. These sequences permit a model for recognition in which the TCR CDR3 loops containing charged residues project between the CD1 {alpha} helices, contacting the lipid antigen hydrophilic head moieties as well as adjacent CD1 residues in a manner that explains antigen specificity and CD1 restriction.

Key Words: CD1 • antigen presentation • T cell receptor • Mycobacterium tuberculosis • mycolic acid


Address correspondence to Michael B. Brenner, M.D., Brigham & Women's Hospital, Smith Bldg., Rm. 552, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: 617-525-1000; Fax: 617-525-1010; E-mail: mbrenner{at}rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Abbreviations used: CDR, complementarity-determining residues; rhIL-2, recombinant human IL-2; UTR, untranslated region.


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