Antigen arrays in T cell immunology

The screening of compound arrays in in vitro bioassays has developed into a powerful tool for the identification of biologically active substances. In the past decade, this technology has increasingly been applied to immunolo gy. As the specificity of the immune system is determined by antigen detect ion via receptors on B and T cells, targeting the specificity of these immu ne receptors with random arrays is unique in its ability to generate genera l and quantitative information on cellular (cross-)reactivity. Synthetic ar ray studies have been useful for identification of epitopes and antigens fr om databases by defining recognition patterns, isolation of synthetic pepti des capable of modulating T cell responsiveness, characterisation of TCR pr omiscuity, and identification of functionally cross-reacting peptides that are potentially involved in molecular mimicry.