Control of mhc restriction by tcr v-alpha cdr1 and cdr2

Academic Article
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publication date

  • August 1996

abstract

  • Individual T cell receptor (TCR) Valpha elements are expressed preferentially in CD4 or CD8 peripheral T cell subsets. The closely related Valpha3.1 and Valpha3.2 elements show reciprocal selection into CD4 and CD8 subsets, respectively. Transgenic mice expressing site-directed mutants of a Valpha3.1 gene were used to show that individual residues in either the complementarity-determining region 1 (CDR1) or CDR2 were sufficient to change selection from the CD4 subset to the CD8 subset. Thus, the germline-encoded Valpha elements are a major influence on major histocompatibility class complex (MHC) restriction, most likely by a preferential interaction with one or the other class of MHC molecule.