Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1995 Jun 1;181(6):1957-63.
doi: 10.1084/jem.181.6.1957.

Modulation of antigen processing by bound antibodies can boost or suppress class II major histocompatibility complex presentation of different T cell determinants

P D Simitsek  1 , D G Campbell, A Lanzavecchia, N Fairweather, C Watts
Affiliations

Modulation of antigen processing by bound antibodies can boost or suppress class II major histocompatibility complex presentation of different T cell determinants

P D Simitsek et al. J Exp Med. .

Abstract

Bound antibodies can modulate antigen processing but it is not clear to what extent this affects antigen presentation. Here we show that presentation of T cell determinants in tetanus toxin can be either enhanced or suppressed as a direct consequence of antibody modulation of antigen processing in human B lymphoblastoid cells. Remarkably, a single bound antibody or its Fab fragment can simultaneously enhance the presentation of one T cell determinant by more than 10-fold while strongly suppressing the presentation of a different T cell determinant. Biochemical analysis demonstrates that both the suppressed and boosted determinants fall within an extended domain of antigen stabilized or "footprinted" by this antibody during proteolysis. These results demonstrate that bound antibodies can modulate the capture of peptides by class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC), thus manipulating the T cell response towards or away from particular determinants. Altered processing of protein-protein complexes leading to enhanced loading of class II MHC and substantially lowered threshold for T cell activation suggests a novel mechanism that might reveal "cryptic" self determinants.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Virol. 1982 Feb;41(2):478-88 - PubMed
    1. Surv Immunol Res. 1983;2(3):223-9 - PubMed
    1. Eur J Immunol. 1985 Apr;15(4):345-50 - PubMed
    1. Nature. 1985 Apr 11-17;314(6011):537-9 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1986 May 23;232(4753):1001-4 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms