Os. Targoni et Pv. Lehmann, ENDOGENOUS MYELIN BASIC-PROTEIN INACTIVATES THE HIGH AVIDITY T-CELL REPERTOIRE, The Journal of experimental medicine, 187(12), 1998, pp. 2055-2063
To study the contribution of endogenous myelin basic protein (MBP) to
the positive and/or negative selection of the MBP-specific T cell repe
rtoire, we studied the T cell response to MBP in MBP-deficient shivere
r and MBP-expressing congenic C3H mice. Immunization with MBP induced
a vigorous T cell response in shiverer mice directed against a single
I-A(k)-restricted immunodominant determinant, the cope of which is pep
tide MBP:79-87 (DENPV-VHFF). Injection of this peptide induced a high
avidity T cell repertoire in shiverer mice that primarily consisted of
clones capable of recognizing the native MBP protein in addition to t
he peptide itself. These data show that endogenous MBP is not required
for the positive selection of an MBP-specific T cell repertoire. C3H
mice, in contrast, were selectively unresponsive to the MBP protein an
d injection of MBP:79-87 peptide induced a low avidity repertoire that
could be stimulated only by the peptide, not by the protein. Therefor
e, endogenous MBP induced profound inactivation of high avidity clones
specific for the immunodominant determinant making that determinant a
ppear cryptic.