Volume 98, Issue 9 pp. 770-781
Short Communication

The MAIT TCRβ chain contributes to discrimination of microbial ligand

Gitanjali A Narayanan

Gitanjali A Narayanan

Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

Search for more papers by this author
James E McLaren

James E McLaren

Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK

Search for more papers by this author
Erin W Meermeier

Erin W Meermeier

Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Kristin Ladell

Kristin Ladell

Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK

Search for more papers by this author
Gwendolyn M Swarbrick

Gwendolyn M Swarbrick

Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

VA Portland Health Care Center, Portland, OR, USA

Search for more papers by this author
David A Price

David A Price

Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK

Systems Immunity Research Institute, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK

Search for more papers by this author
Jessica G Tran

Jessica G Tran

VA Portland Health Care Center, Portland, OR, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Aneta H Worley

Aneta H Worley

VA Portland Health Care Center, Portland, OR, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Todd Vogt

Todd Vogt

VA Portland Health Care Center, Portland, OR, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Emily B Wong

Emily B Wong

Africa Health Research Institute, Durban, South Africa

Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Search for more papers by this author
David M Lewinsohn

Corresponding Author

David M Lewinsohn

Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

VA Portland Health Care Center, Portland, OR, USA

Correspondence

David M Lewinsohn, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Mail Code VA R&D 11, Portland, OR 97239, USA.

E-mail: [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 22 June 2020
Citations: 13

Abstract

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are key players in the immune response against microbial infection. The MAIT T-cell receptor (TCR) recognizes a diverse array of microbial ligands, and recent reports have highlighted the variability in the MAIT TCR that could further contribute to discrimination of ligand. The MAIT TCR complementarity determining region (CDR)3β sequence displays a high level of diversity across individuals, and clonotype usage appears to be dependent on antigenic exposure. To address the relationship between the MAIT TCR and microbial ligand, we utilized a previously defined panel of MAIT cell clones that demonstrated variability in responses against different microbial infections. Sequencing of these clones revealed four pairs, each with shared (identical) CDR3α and different CDR3β sequences. These pairs demonstrated varied responses against microbially infected dendritic cells as well as against 5-(2-oxopropylideneamino)-6-d-ribitylaminouracil, a ligand abundant in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, suggesting that the CDR3β contributes to differences in ligand discrimination. Taken together, these results highlight a key role for the MAIT CDR3β region in distinguishing between MR1-bound antigens and ligands.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.