| First Author | Brennan PJ | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | 1202-11 |
| PubMed ID | 22037601 | Mgi Jnum | J:179015 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5300870 | Doi | 10.1038/ni.2143 |
| Citation | Brennan PJ, et al. (2011) Invariant natural killer T cells recognize lipid self antigen induced by microbial danger signals. Nat Immunol 12(12):1202-11 |
| abstractText | Invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells) have a prominent role during infection and other inflammatory processes, and these cells can be activated through their T cell antigen receptors by microbial lipid antigens. However, increasing evidence shows that they are also activated in situations in which foreign lipid antigens would not be present, which suggests a role for lipid self antigen. We found that an abundant endogenous lipid, beta-D-glucopyranosylceramide (beta-GlcCer), was a potent iNKT cell self antigen in mouse and human and that its activity depended on the composition of the N-acyl chain. Furthermore, beta-GlcCer accumulated during infection and in response to Toll-like receptor agonists, contributing to iNKT cell activation. Thus, we propose that recognition of beta-GlcCer by the invariant T cell antigen receptor translates innate danger signals into iNKT cell activation. |
