| First Author | Liu GY | Year | 1995 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 407-15 |
| PubMed ID | 7584132 | Mgi Jnum | J:109162 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3626026 | Doi | 10.1016/1074-7613(95)90170-1 |
| Citation | Liu GY, et al. (1995) Low avidity recognition of self-antigen by T cells permits escape from central tolerance. Immunity 3(4):407-15 |
| abstractText | The immunodominant epitope of myelin basic protein, Ac1-9, is encephalitogenic in H-2u mice. We have previously demonstrated that this epitope displays low affinity for I-Au and have suggested that the avidity of T cell recognition in the thymus may be compromised, enabling autoreactive T cells to escape self-tolerance. We have addressed this hypothesis directly by constructing transgenic mice expressing an encephalitogenic T cell receptor (TCR). Parenteral administration of Ac1-9 had no discernable impact on developing thymocytes. In contrast, peptide analogs displaying far higher affinity for I-Au, provoked deletion of CD4+ CD8+ cells and transient down-regulation of the TCR by mature CD4+ CD8- thymocytes. The use of analogs of intermediate affinity permitted a margin of error to be defined for the induction of tolerance and confirmed that the affinity of Ac1-9 lies well below the critical threshold. |
