Marrero I, Huffman D, Kalil J, Sercarz EE, Coelho V. TAP1-/- mice present oligoclonal BV-BJ expansions following the rejection of grafts bearing self antigens.
Immunology 2006;
118:461-71. [PMID:
16895555 PMCID:
PMC1782321 DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2567.2006.02387.x]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Our previous work showed that transporter associated with antigen processing 1 (TAP1)-/- (H-2b) mice rejected grafts from H-2b mice which display a normal density of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules at the cell surface. Our results indicated that H-2b molecules themselves may be a target in this kind of rejection and that CD4+ T cells play a major role in this autoreactive process. Our data also suggested that TAP1-/- mice, in addition to the well-recognized phenotype of class I and CD8+ T-cell deficiency, present a functional alteration in their autoreactive CD4+ T-cell repertoires. In this model of inflammatory autoreactivity to modified self, we have analysed T-cell receptor (TCR) V-beta-J-beta (BV-BJ) usage by complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) length spectratyping in splenocytes from naïve TAP1-/- mice and transplanted TAP1-/- mice that rejected B6 heart grafts or responded to synthetic self H-2Kb peptides. Importantly, oligoclonal T-cell expansions shared by different animals were detected in the peripheral T-cell repertoire of transplanted TAP1-/- mice. Such public expansions were also induced in vitro by H-2Kb peptides, suggesting that dominant class I peptides can induce preferential expansions of restricted T-cell populations during rejection. Some of these public T-cell expansions were also detected in transplanted mice even before in vitro stimulation with peptides, indicating that post-transplantation expansion of these populations had occurred in vivo. The functional activity of these T-cell populations awaits elucidation, as do the underlying mechanisms involved in the inflammatory autoreactive process, in TAP1-/- mice.
Collapse