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Publication Abstract from PubMed

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.

CDR3 loop flexibility contributes to the degeneracy of TCR recognition.,Reiser JB, Darnault C, Gregoire C, Mosser T, Mazza G, Kearney A, van der Merwe PA, Fontecilla-Camps JC, Housset D, Malissen B Nat Immunol. 2003 Mar;4(3):241-7. Epub 2003 Feb 3. PMID:12563259^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.