Mulcahy A F, Beeson D M, Willcox N, Diamond A G
Department of Medicine, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Immunology. 1995 Sep;86(1):116-21.
Currently, the limited supply and stability of some human autoantigens pose formidable difficulties in characterizing patients' T cells specific for them; recombinant preparations may contain bacterial contaminants, and synthetic peptides have arbitrarily chosen start and stop points. In order to provide a stable antigen source with naturally processed epitopes, a full-length acetylcholine receptor (AChR) alpha subunit construct was transfected into B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCL). Expression was much easier to detect at the mRNA level than the protein level. Nevertheless, this transfectant also stimulated a T-cell line that recognized the alpha 149-156 region in the context of HLA-DR4 at high sensitivity. The responses were specific both for the antigen transfected and for the presenting HLA-DR allele. This study thus confirms the potential of autologous B-LCL expressing natural epitopes in the context of HLA class II molecules for characterizing established T-cell lines, and perhaps also for initiating new ones.
目前，一些人类自身抗原的供应有限且稳定性欠佳，这给鉴定针对这些抗原的患者T细胞带来了巨大困难；重组制剂可能含有细菌污染物，而合成肽的起始和终止点是随意选择的。为了提供一种具有天然加工表位的稳定抗原来源，将全长乙酰胆碱受体（AChR）α亚基构建体转染到B淋巴母细胞系（B-LCL）中。在mRNA水平比在蛋白质水平更容易检测到表达。然而，这种转染细胞也刺激了一个T细胞系，该T细胞系在HLA-DR4背景下能高灵敏度地识别α149-156区域。这些反应对于转染的抗原和呈递的HLA-DR等位基因都是特异性的。因此，本研究证实了在HLA II类分子背景下表达天然表位的自体B-LCL在鉴定已建立的T细胞系以及或许还能启动新的T细胞系方面的潜力。
