An affinity/avidity model of peripheral T cell regulation

Hong Jiang, Yilun Wu, Bitao Liang, Zongyu Zheng, Guomei Tang, Jean Kanellopoulos, Mark Soloski, Robert Winchester, Itamar Goldstein, Leonard Chess

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

We show in these studies that Qa-1-dependent CD8+ T cells are involved in the establishment and maintenance of peripheral self tolerance as well as facilitating affinity maturation of CD4+ T cells responding to foreign antigen. We provide experimental evidence that the strategy used by the Qa-1-dependent CD8+ T cells to accomplish both these tasks in vivo is to selectively downregulate T cell clones that respond to both self and foreign antigens with intermediate, not high or low, affinity/avidity. Thus, the immune system evolved to regulate peripheral immunity using a unified mechanism that efficiently and effectively permits the system to safeguard peripheral self tolerance yet promote the capacity to deal with foreign invaders.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)302-312
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation
Volume115
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2005
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An affinity/avidity model of peripheral T cell regulation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this