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Structure of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin E in Complex with TCR Defines the Role of TCR Loop Positioning in Superantigen Recognition.

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Author

Summary, in English

T cells are crucial players in cell-mediated immunity. The specificity of their receptor, the T cell receptor (TCR), is central for the immune system to distinguish foreign from host antigens. Superantigens are bacterial toxins capable of inducing a toxic immune response by cross-linking the TCR and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II and circumventing the antigen specificity. Here, we present the structure of staphylococcal enterotoxin E (SEE) in complex with a human T cell receptor, as well as the unligated T cell receptor structure. There are clear structural changes in the TCR loops upon superantigen binding. In particular, the HV4 loop moves to circumvent steric clashes upon complex formation. In addition, a predicted ternary model of SEE in complex with both TCR and MHC class II displays intermolecular contacts between the TCR α-chain and the MHC, suggesting that the TCR α-chain is of importance for complex formation.

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Publication/Series

PLoS ONE

Volume

10

Issue

7

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Topic

  • Immunology in the medical area

Status

Published

Research group

  • Medical Structural Biology

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1932-6203