Abstract
The four distinct T-cell antigen receptor polypeptides (α, β, γ, δ) form two different heterodimers (α:β and γ:δ) that are very similar to immunoglobulins in primary sequence, gene organization and modes of rearrangement. Whereas antibodies have both soluble and membrane forms that can bind to antigens alone, T-cell receptors exist only on cell surfaces and recognize antigen fragments only when they are embedded in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Patterns of diversity in T-cell receptor genes together with structural features of immunoglobulin and MHC molecules suggest a model for how this recognition might occur. This view of T-cell recognition has implications for how the receptors might be selected in the thymus and how they (and immunoglobulins) may have arisen during evolution.
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Davis, M., Bjorkman, P. T-cell antigen receptor genes and T-cell recognition. Nature 334, 395–402 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/334395a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/334395a0
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