Surface Expression of Two Distinct Functional Antigen Receptors on Human γδ T Cells

• DOI: 10.1126/science.8390096
• Publication Date: 2006-10-05T23:05:09Z
• Authors: François Davodeau; Marie-Alix Peyrat; Isabelle Houde; Marie-Martine Hallet; Gennaro De Libero; Henri Vié; Marc Bonneville
• Keywords: Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; 0301 basic medicine; Base Sequence; Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; T-Lymphocytes; Molecular Sequence Data; Gene Expression; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; Cell Line; 03 medical and health sciences; Humans; Amino Acid Sequence; Alleles; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic

Lymphocytes recognize antigens with highly variable heterodimeric surface receptors. Although four distinct antigen receptors could in principle be produced by any lymphocyte, only one functional combination of receptor chains has thus far been found expressed on their surface. Examination of human γδ T cells revealed a population that violated this rule by expressing on their surface two distinct functional γδ T cell receptors (TCRs) that used different TCRγ gene alleles. Thus, current models for T cell clonal selection may need modification, and a possible escape mechanism for autoreactive TCRs is suggested.