Parsing digital or analog TCR performance through piconewton forces.

αβ T cell receptors (TCRs) principally recognize aberrant peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex molecules (pMHCs) on unhealthy cells, amplifying specificity and sensitivity through physical load placed on the TCR-pMHC bond during immunosurveillance. To understand this mechanobiology, TCRs stimulated by abundantly and sparsely arrayed epitopes (NP366-374/Db and PA224-233/Db, respectively) following in vivo influenza A virus infection were studied with optical tweezers. While certain NP repertoire CD8 T lymphocytes require many ligands for activation, others are digital, needing just few. Conversely, all PA TCRs perform digitally, exhibiting pronounced bond lifetime increases through sustained, energizing volleys of structural transitioning. Optimal digital performance is superior in vivo, correlating with ERK phosphorylation, CD3 loss, and activation marker up-regulation in vitro. Given neoantigen array paucity, digital TCRs are likely critical for immunotherapies.

Citation

Aoi Akitsu, Eiji Kobayashi, Yinnian Feng, Hannah M Stephens, Kristine N Brazin, Daniel J Masi, Evan H Kirkpatrick, Robert J Mallis, Jonathan S Duke-Cohan, Matthew A Booker, Vincenzo Cinella, William W Feng, Elizabeth L Holliday, Jonathan J Lee, Katarzyna J Zienkiewicz, Michael Y Tolstorukov, Wonmuk Hwang, Matthew J Lang, Ellis L Reinherz. Parsing digital or analog TCR performance through piconewton forces. Science advances. 2024 Aug 16;10(33):eado4313

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PMID: 39141734

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