Abstract
During an immune response antigen-primed B-cells increase their antigen responsiveness by affinity maturation mediated by somatic hypermutation of the genes encoding the antigen-specific B-cell receptor (BCR) and by selection of higher-affinity B cell clones. Unlike the BCR, the T-cell receptor (TCR) cannot undergo affinity maturation. Nevertheless, antigen-primed T cells significantly increase their antigen responsiveness compared to antigen-inexperienced (nave) T cells in a process called functional avidity maturation. This paper covers studies that describe differences in T-cell antigen responsiveness during T-cell differentiation along with examples of the mechanisms behind functional avidity maturation in T cells.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 163453 |
| Journal | Clinical & Developmental Immunology |
| Volume | 2012 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISSN | 1740-2522 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2012 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Cell Differentiation
- Cellular Microenvironment
- Cytokines
- Humans
- Immunologic Memory
- Lymphocyte Activation
- Receptor Cross-Talk
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
- Signal Transduction
- T-Lymphocyte Subsets
- T-Lymphocytes