Skip to main content
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1983 Oct 1;158(4):1368–1373. doi: 10.1084/jem.158.4.1368

Peptide variability exists within alpha and beta subunits of the T cell receptor for antigen

PMCID: PMC2187384  PMID: 6604785

Abstract

The T cell receptor for antigen (Ti) has recently been identified as a 90-kdalton T3-associated clonotypic structure composed of one 49-51- kdalton alpha and one 43-kdalton beta subunit, which are disulfide linked. Here, Ti molecules from two alloreactive CTL clones derived from the same donor but of differing specificities (CT8III and CT4II) are directly compared following isolation with anticlonotypic monoclonal antibodies. Isoelectric focusing shows that the alpha subunits (pI 4.4-4.7) are more acidic than the beta subunits (pI 6.0- 6.2) but that each glycoprotein species is distinctive. More importantly, two-dimensional peptide maps of 125I-labeled surface receptors indicate that the beta chains of Ti1 and Ti2 appear unique and share only two peptides in common. In contrast, peptide maps of Ti1 and Ti2 alpha chains are more related although not identical. These results suggest that the human T cell receptor is composed of constant as well as variable regions and that at least one of the latter is located within the beta subunit.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (484.9 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brack C., Hirama M., Lenhard-Schuller R., Tonegawa S. A complete immunoglobulin gene is created by somatic recombination. Cell. 1978 Sep;15(1):1–14. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90078-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Corte G., Damiani G., Calabi F., Fabbi M., Bargellesi A. Analysis of HLA-DR polymorphism by two-dimensional peptide mapping. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jan;78(1):534–538. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.1.534. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Early P., Huang H., Davis M., Calame K., Hood L. An immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region gene is generated from three segments of DNA: VH, D and JH. Cell. 1980 Apr;19(4):981–992. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90089-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Haskins K., Kubo R., White J., Pigeon M., Kappler J., Marrack P. The major histocompatibility complex-restricted antigen receptor on T cells. I. Isolation with a monoclonal antibody. J Exp Med. 1983 Apr 1;157(4):1149–1169. doi: 10.1084/jem.157.4.1149. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Meuer S. C., Acuto O., Hussey R. E., Hodgdon J. C., Fitzgerald K. A., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Evidence for the T3-associated 90K heterodimer as the T-cell antigen receptor. Nature. 1983 Jun 30;303(5920):808–810. doi: 10.1038/303808a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Meuer S. C., Fitzgerald K. A., Hussey R. E., Hodgdon J. C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Clonotypic structures involved in antigen-specific human T cell function. Relationship to the T3 molecular complex. J Exp Med. 1983 Feb 1;157(2):705–719. doi: 10.1084/jem.157.2.705. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Meuer S. C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Clonal analysis of human cytotoxic T lymphocytes: T4+ and T8+ effector T cells recognize products of different major histocompatibility complex regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jul;79(14):4395–4399. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.14.4395. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. O'Farrell P. H. High resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis of proteins. J Biol Chem. 1975 May 25;250(10):4007–4021. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Omary M. B., Trowbridge I. S. Disposition of T200 glycoprotein in the plasma membrane of a murine lymphoma cell line. J Biol Chem. 1980 Feb 25;255(4):1662–1669. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Reinherz E. L., Meuer S. C., Fitzgerald K. A., Hussey R. E., Hodgdon J. C., Acuto O., Schlossman S. F. Comparison of T3-associated 49- and 43-kilodalton cell surface molecules on individual human T-cell clones: evidence for peptide variability in T-cell receptor structures. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(13):4104–4108. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.13.4104. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Seidman J. G., Max E. E., Leder P. A kappa-immunoglobulin gene is formed by site-specific recombination without further somatic mutation. Nature. 1979 Aug 2;280(5721):370–375. doi: 10.1038/280370a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES