T cells are extremely sensitive in their ability to find minute amounts of antigenic peptide in the midst of many endogenous peptides presented on an antigen-presenting cell. The role of endogenous peptides in the recognition of foreign peptide and hence in T cell activation has remained controversial for CD8+ T cell activation. We showed previously that in a CD8+ T cell hybridoma, nonstimulatory endogenous peptides enhance T cell sensitivity to antigen by increasing the coreceptor function of CD8. However, others were not able to detect such enhancement in naive and activated CD8+ T cells. Here, we show that endogenous peptides substantially enhance the ability of T cells to detect antigen, an effect measurable by up-regulation of activation or maturation markers and by increased effector function. This enhancement is most pronounced in thymocytes, moderate in naive T cells, and mild in effector T cells. The importance of endogenous peptides is inversely proportional to the agonist activity of the stimulatory peptide presented. Unlike for CD4+ T cells, the T cell receptor of CD8+ T cells does not distinguish between endogenous peptides for their ability to enhance antigen recognition.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
29 October 2007
Article|
October 22 2007
T cell activation enhancement by endogenous pMHC acts for both weak and strong agonists but varies with differentiation state
Pia P. Yachi,
Pia P. Yachi
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Search for other works by this author on:
Carina Lotz,
Carina Lotz
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Search for other works by this author on:
Jeanette Ampudia,
Jeanette Ampudia
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Search for other works by this author on:
Nicholas R.J. Gascoigne
Nicholas R.J. Gascoigne
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Search for other works by this author on:
Pia P. Yachi
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Carina Lotz
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Jeanette Ampudia
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
Nicholas R.J. Gascoigne
Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
CORRESPONDENCE Nicholas R.J. Gascoigne: [email protected]
Abbreviations used: APL, altered peptide ligand; cSMAC, central supramolecular activation cluster; DP, double-positive; IS, immunological synapse(s); Kb, H-2Kb; MFI, mean fluorescent intensity; pMHC, peptide–MHC; VSV, vesicular stomatitis virus.
Received:
December 14 2006
Accepted:
September 28 2007
Online ISSN: 1540-9538
Print ISSN: 0022-1007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
J Exp Med (2007) 204 (11): 2747–2757.
Article history
Received:
December 14 2006
Accepted:
September 28 2007
Citation
Pia P. Yachi, Carina Lotz, Jeanette Ampudia, Nicholas R.J. Gascoigne; T cell activation enhancement by endogenous pMHC acts for both weak and strong agonists but varies with differentiation state . J Exp Med 29 October 2007; 204 (11): 2747–2757. doi: https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20062610
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionSuggested Content
Email alerts
Advertisement