Casting a wider net: Immunosurveillance by nonclassical MHC molecules.

Casting a wider net: Immunosurveillance by nonclassical MHC molecules.

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. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: M Patricia D'Souza, Erin Adams, John D Altman, Michael E Birnbaum, Cesar Boggiano, Giulia Casorati, Yueh-Hsiu Chien, Anthony Conley, Sidonia Barbara Guiomar Eckle, Klaus Früh, Timothy Gondré-Lewis, Namir Hassan, Huang Huang, Lakshmi Jayashankar, Anne G Kasmar, Nina Kunwar, Judith Lavelle, David M Lewinsohn, Branch Moody, Louis Picker, Lakshmi Ramachandra, Nilabh Shastri, Peter Parham, Andrew J McMichael, Jonathan W Yewdell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-02-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1007567
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:1553-7366
1553-7374

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