RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Fluctuations in TCR and pMHC interactions regulate T cell activation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.02.09.430441
DO 10.1101/2021.02.09.430441
A1 Joseph R. Egan
A1 Enas Abu-Shah
A1 Omer Dushek
A1 Tim Elliott
A1 Ben D. MacArthur
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/05/2021.02.09.430441.abstract
AB Adaptive immune responses depend on interactions between T cell receptors (TCRs) and peptide major-histocompatibility complex (pMHC) ligands located on the surface of T cells and antigen presenting cells (APCs) respectively. As TCRs and pMHCs are often only present at low copy-numbers their interactions are inherently stochastic, yet the role of stochastic fluctuations on T cell function is unclear. Here we introduce a minimal stochastic model of T cell activation that accounts for serial TCR-pMHC engagement, reversible TCR conformational change and TCR aggregation. Analysis of this model indicates that it is not the strength of binding between the T cell and the APC cell per se that elicits an immune response, but rather the information imparted to the T cell from the encounter, as assessed by the entropy rate of the TCR-pMHC binding dynamics. This view provides an information-theoretic interpretation of T cell activation that explains a range of experimental observations. Based on this analysis we propose that effective T cell therapeutics may be enhanced by optimizing the inherent stochasticity of TCR-pMHC binding dynamics.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.