C. Viret et al., Designing and maintaining the mature TCR repertoire: the continuum of self-peptide : self-MHC complex recognition, IMMUNITY, 10(5), 1999, pp. 559-568
Peripheral T cell maintenance requires a survival signal delivered upon T c
ell receptor (TCR)-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule interact
ion. Since self-peptides play a critical role in the intrathymic positive s
election of the mature TCR repertoire, we hypothesized an equally important
role in T cell persistence. We used mice with a normal expression of MHC c
lass II molecules but a restricted self-peptide complexity (H-2M alpha(-/-)
) to show that an MHC class II-restricted T cell specificity that displays
a deficient positive selection in the H-2M alpha(-/-) thymus shows an impai
red persistence after adoptive transfer in H-2M alpha(-/-) recipients. Fina
lly, a wild-type CD4(+) TCR repertoire is incompletely maintained in H-2M a
lpha(-/-) recipients. These observations suggest that, similar to intrathym
ic positive selection, the maintenance of the mature TCR repertoire relies
on the recognition of self-peptide:self-MHC complexes.