| First Author | Hogquist KA | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 389-99 |
| PubMed ID | 9133418 | Mgi Jnum | J:39857 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:87206 | Doi | 10.1016/s1074-7613(00)80282-4 |
| Citation | Hogquist KA, et al. (1997) Identification of a naturally occurring ligand for thymic positive selection. Immunity 6(4):389-99 |
| abstractText | In the thymus, positive and negative selection shape the T cell repertoire. It has previously been shown that positive selection, like negative selection, is the result of the interaction of the TCR with self-peptides bound to MHC. However, little is known about the number or nature of the self-peptide ligands that mediate positive selection in vivo. We devised a novel assay with enhanced sensitivity for low affinity TCR ligands to identify self-peptides that may be biologically relevant. At least eight K(b)-bound self-peptides were detected by this assay using thymocytes bearing the OT-I TCR (specific for OVAp/K(b)). The sequence of one of these peptides was determined using the recently developed technique of membrane preconcentration-capillary electrophoresis-tandem mass spectrometry. This peptide, CP alpha1, has limited sequence similarity to OVAp, yet was found to induce positive selection of OT-I thymocytes in fetal thymic organ culture. |
