Abstract
The acquired immune system is a complex and very effective defense against invading pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. T cells are central to the acquired immune system by controlling B and T cell activation and induction of T cell effector functions. The key event for T cell activation is the recognition of a specific antigen by the T cell receptor. During the past decade antigen recognition of T cells has been investigated intensively leading to new insights into the molecular mechanisms of T cell activation. In addition to the resolution of the molecular structure of the trimolecular complex (T cell receptor, peptide, major histocompatibility complex) functional studies have demonstrated the flexibility of the T cell receptor interaction with its ligand. These observations have had strong implications for the understanding of T cell selection, maturation, and repertoire maintenance. In addition, the flexibility of the T cell receptor has provided the basis for novel methods to dissect antigen recognition and define the repertoire of ligands for a given receptor. Here, we summarize recent progress on T cell recognition and method innovations with respect to future studies in autoimmune diseases.
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Jacobsen, M., Cepok, S., Oertel, W.H. et al. New approaches to dissect degeneracy and specificity in T cell antigen recognition. J Mol Med 79, 358–367 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001090100230
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001090100230