RESUMO
T cell receptor (TCR) binding degeneracy lies at the heart of several physiological and pathological phenomena, yet its structural basis is poorly understood. We determined the crystal structure of a complex involving the BM3.3 TCR and an octapeptide (VSV8) bound to the H-2K(b) major histocompatibility complex molecule at a 2.7 A resolution, and compared it with the BM3.3 TCR bound to the H-2K(b) molecule loaded with a peptide that has no primary sequence identity with VSV8. Comparison of these structures showed that the BM3.3 TCR complementarity-determining region (CDR) 3alpha could undergo rearrangements to adapt to structurally different peptide residues. Therefore, CDR3 loop flexibility helps explain TCR binding cross-reactivity.
Assuntos
Regiões Determinantes de Complementaridade/química , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/química , Linfócitos T/imunologia , Regiões Determinantes de Complementaridade/imunologia , Humanos , Ligantes , Ligação Proteica/imunologia , Conformação Proteica , Estrutura Terciária de Proteína , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Relação Estrutura-Atividade , Linfócitos T/químicaRESUMO
The elongated complementary-determining region (CDR) 3beta found in the unliganded KB5-C20 TCR protrudes from the antigen binding site and prevents its docking onto the peptide/MHC (pMHC) surface according to a canonical diagonal orientation. We now present the crystal structure of a complex involving the KB5-C20 TCR and an octapeptide bound to the allogeneic H-2K(b) MHC class I molecule. This structure reveals how a tremendously large CDR3beta conformational change allows the KB5-C20 TCR to adapt to the rather constrained pMHC surface and achieve a diagonal docking mode. This extreme case of induced fit also shows that TCR plasticity is primarily restricted to CDR3 loops and does not propagate away from the antigen binding site.
