Subscribe to the newsletter

Publication

Structural biology of the T-cell receptor: insights into receptor assembly, ligand recognition, and initiation of signaling.

The T-cell receptor (TCR)-CD3 complex serves as a central paradigm for general principles of receptor assembly, ligand recognition, and signaling in the immune system. There is no other receptor system that matches the diversity of both receptor and ligand components. The recent expansion of the immunological structural database is beginning to identify key principles of MHC and peptide recognition. The multicomponent assembly of the TCR complex illustrates general principles used by many receptors in the immune system, which rely on basic and acidic transmembrane residues to guide assembly. The intrinsic binding of the cytoplasmic domains of the CD3epsilon and zeta chains to the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane represents a novel mechanism for control of receptor activation: Insertion of critical CD3epsilon tyrosines into the hydrophobic membrane core prevents their phosphorylation before receptor engagement.

Publication date
avril 1, 2010
Principal Investigators
Wucherpfennig KW, Gagnon E, Call MJ, Huseby ES, Call ME
PubMed reference
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2010;2(4):a005140
PubMed ID
20452950
Affiliation
Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. kai_wucherpfennig@dfci.harvard.edu kai_wucherpfennig@dfci.harvard.edu