Recombinant soluble alphabeta T cell receptors protect T cells from immune suppression: requirement for aggregated multimeric, disulfide-linked alphabeta heterodimers.

Recombinant soluble T cell receptors (sTCR) protected contact sensitivity (CS) effector T cells from down-regulation or immunosuppression. CS-protecting sTCR were released enzymatically from the surface of thymoma cells transfected with cDNAs encoding TCR-alpha and -beta extracellular domains that were expressed with a phosphatidylinositol linkage. sTCR affinity purified on anti-TCR-alpha and anti-TCR-beta mAb columns had identical CS-protective activity, as did sTCR from a CD4+ Th2 clone or from a CD8+ cytotoxic clone. Reduced sTCR alpha- and beta-chains had no CS-protective activity, but this was restored when the TCR chains were rejoined into disulfide-linked alphabeta heterodimers. sTCR CS protection was Ag nonspecific, MHC unrestricted, and not influenced by the relevant synthetic peptide specific for the TCR complexed with appropriate MHC. CS protection may have resided in the sTCR constant region. When heated at 62 degrees C for 30 min, sTCR formed a CS-protecting aggregate, with a molecular mass of 481 +/- 37 kDa, corresponding to an alphabeta TCR pentamer. HPLC gel filtration essentially confirmed the molecular mass at 516 kDa for the multimer, while the monomer, which was an alphabeta TCR heterodimer, had an expected molecular mass of approximately 104 kDa and no bioactivity. In summary, the pentameric sTCR may bind to and activate lymphoid cells, perhaps via constant domains, resulting in protection of CS effector T cells from down-regulation. The ability of sTCR to protect CS effector T cells from down-regulation/suppression, if generalized, could overcome immunosuppression accompanying infectious diseases, particularly AIDS, or in tumors.