Biological Sciences Division
Published February 21, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Casting a wider net: Immunosurveillance by nonclassical MHC molecules

Creators

  • 1. NIAID
  • 2. University of Chicago
  • 3. Emory University
  • 4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • 5. San Raffaele Scientific Institute
  • 6. Stanford University
  • 7. University of Melbourne
  • 8. Oregon Health & Science University
  • 9. Immunocore Limited
  • 10. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • 11. Brigham and Women's Hospital

Description

Most studies of T lymphocytes focus on recognition of classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I or II molecules presenting oligopeptides, yet there are numerous variations and exceptions of biological significance based on recognition of a wide variety of nonclassical MHC molecules. These include αβ and γδ T cells that recognize different class Ib molecules (CD1, MR-1, HLA-E, G, F, et al.) that are nearly monomorphic within a given species. Collectively, these T cells can be considered "unconventional," in part because they recognize lipids, metabolites, and modified peptides. Unlike classical MHC-specific cells, unconventional T cells generally exhibit limited T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) repertoires and often produce innate immune cell-like rapid effector responses. Exploiting this system in new generation vaccines for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), other infectious agents, and cancer was the focus of a recent workshop, "Immune Surveillance by Non-classical MHC Molecules: Improving Diversity for Antigens," sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Here, we summarize salient points presented regarding the basic immunobiology of unconventional T cells, recent advances in methodologies to measure unconventional T-cell activity in diseases, and approaches to harness their considerable clinical potential.

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1371/journal.ppat.1007567
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:6318

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Biological Sciences Division
Department(s)
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biophysical Sciences, Cancer Biology, Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology, Immunology