Search

Tumor-associated peptide-human leukocyte antigen complexes (pHLAs) represent the largest pool of cell surface-expressed cancer-specific epitopes, making them attractive targets for cancer therapies. Soluble bispecific molecules that incorporate an anti-CD3 effector function are being developed to redirect T cells against these targets using 2 different approaches. The first achieves pHLA recognition via affinity-enhanced versions of natural TCRs (e.g., immune-mobilizing monoclonal T cell receptors against cancer [ImmTAC] molecules), whereas the second harnesses an antibody-based format (TCR-mimic antibodies). For both classes of reagent, target specificity is vital, considering the vast universe of potential pHLA molecules that can be presented on healthy cells. Here, we made use of structural, biochemical, and computational approaches to investigate the molecular rules underpinning the reactivity patterns of pHLA-targeting bispecifics. We demonstrate that affinity-enhanced TCRs engage pHLA using a comparatively broad and balanced energetic footprint, with interactions distributed over several HLA and peptide side chains. As ImmTAC molecules, these TCRs also retained a greater degree of pHLA selectivity, with less off-target activity in cellular assays. Conversely, TCR-mimic antibodies tended to exhibit binding modes focused more toward hot spots on the HLA surface and exhibited a greater degree of crossreactivity. Our findings extend our understanding of the basic principles that underpin pHLA selectivity and exemplify a number of molecular approaches that can be used to probe the specificity of pHLA-targeting molecules, aiding the development of future reagents.

The HLA-A*02:01-restricted decapeptide EAAGIGILTV, derived from melanoma antigen recognized by T-cells-1 (MART-1) protein, represents one of the best-studied tumor associated T-cell epitopes, but clinical results targeting this peptide have been disappointing. This limitation may reflect the dominance of the nonapeptide, AAGIGILTV, at the melanoma cell surface. The decapeptide and nonapeptide are presented in distinct conformations by HLA-A*02:01 and TCRs from clinically relevant T-cell clones recognize the nonapeptide poorly. Here, we studied the MEL5 TCR that potently recognizes the nonapeptide. The structure of the MEL5-HLA-A*02:01-AAGIGILTV complex revealed an induced fit mechanism of antigen recognition involving altered peptide-MHC anchoring. This "flexing" at the TCR-peptide-MHC interface to accommodate the peptide antigen explains previously observed incongruences in this well-studied system and has important implications for future therapeutic approaches. Finally, this study expands upon the mechanisms by which molecular plasticity can influence antigen recognition by T cells., (© 2019 The Authors. European Journal of Immunology published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

MHC anchor residue-modified "heteroclitic" peptides have been used in many cancer vaccine trials and often induce greater immune responses than the wild-type peptide. The best-studied system to date is the decamer MART-1/Melan-A26-35 peptide, EAAGIGILTV, where the natural alanine at position 2 has been modified to leucine to improve human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201 anchoring. The resulting ELAGIGILTV peptide has been used in many studies. We recently showed that T cells primed with the ELAGIGILTV peptide can fail to recognize the natural tumor-expressed peptide efficiently, thereby providing a potential molecular reason for why clinical trials of this peptide have been unsuccessful. Here, we solved the structure of a TCR in complex with HLA-A*0201-EAAGIGILTV peptide and compared it with its heteroclitic counterpart , HLA-A*0201-ELAGIGILTV. The data demonstrate that a suboptimal anchor residue at position 2 enables the TCR to "pull" the peptide away from the MHC binding groove, facilitating extra contacts with both the peptide and MHC surface. These data explain how a TCR can distinguish between two epitopes that differ by only a single MHC anchor residue and demonstrate how weak MHC anchoring can enable an induced-fit interaction with the TCR. Our findings constitute a novel demonstration of the extreme sensitivity of the TCR to minor alterations in peptide conformation., (© 2014 The Authors. European Journal of Immunology Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

αβ T-cell receptors (TCRs) engage antigens using complementarity-determining region (CDR) loops that are either germ line-encoded (CDR1 and CDR2) or somatically rearranged (CDR3). TCR ligands compose a presentation platform (major histocompatibility complex (MHC)) and a variable antigenic component consisting of a short "foreign" peptide. The sequence of events when the TCR engages its peptide-MHC (pMHC) ligand remains unclear. Some studies suggest that the germ line elements of the TCR engage the MHC prior to peptide scanning, but this order of binding is difficult to reconcile with some TCR-pMHC structures. Here, we used TCRs that exhibited enhanced pMHC binding as a result of mutations in either CDR2 and/or CDR3 loops, that bound to the MHC or peptide, respectively, to dissect the roles of these loops in stabilizing TCR-pMHC interactions. Our data show that TCR-peptide interactions play a strongly dominant energetic role providing a binding mode that is both temporally and energetically complementary with a system requiring positive selection by self-pMHC in the thymus and rapid recognition of non-self-pMHC in the periphery.

The interaction between the clonotypic αβ T cell receptor (TCR), expressed on the T cell surface, and peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) molecules, expressed on the target cell surface, governs T cell mediated autoimmunity and immunity against pathogens and cancer. Structural investigations of this interaction have been limited because of the challenges inherent in the production of good quality TCR/pMHC protein crystals. Here, we report the development of an 'intelligently designed' crystallization screen that reproducibly generates high quality TCR/pMHC complex crystals suitable for X-ray crystallographic studies, thereby reducing protein consumption. Over the last 2 years, we have implemented this screen to produce 32 T cell related protein structures at high resolution, substantially contributing to the current immune protein database. Protein crystallography, used to study this interaction, has already extended our understanding of the molecular rules that govern T cell immunity. Subsequently, these data may help to guide the intelligent design of T cell based therapies that target human diseases, underlining the importance of developing optimized approaches for crystallizing novel TCR/pMHC complexes., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fluorochrome-conjugated peptide-MHC (pMHC) class I multimers are staple components of the immunologist's toolbox, enabling reliable quantification and analysis of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells irrespective of functional outputs. In contrast, widespread use of the equivalent pMHC class II (pMHC-II) reagents has been hindered by intrinsically weaker TCR affinities for pMHC-II, a lack of cooperative binding between the TCR and CD4 coreceptor, and a low frequency of Ag-specific CD4+ T cell populations in the peripheral blood. In this study, we show that peptide flanking regions, extending beyond the central nonamer core of MHC-IIbound peptides, can enhance TCR-pMHC-II binding and T cell activation without loss of specificity. Consistent with these findings, pMHC-II multimers incorporating peptide flanking residue modifications proved superior for the ex vivo detection, characterization, and manipulation of Ag-specific CD4+ T cells, highlighting an unappreciated feature of TCR-pMHC-II interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of antigen-specific T-cell populations by flow cytometry with peptide- MHC ( pMHC) multimers is now commonplace. These reagents allow the tracking and phenotyping of T cells during infection, autoimmunity and cancer, and can be particularly revealing when used for monitoring therapeutic interventions. In 2009, we reviewed a number of 'tricks' that could be used to improve this powerful technology. More recent advances have demonstrated the potential benefits of using higher order multimers and of 'boosting' staining by inclusion of an antibody against the pMHC multimer. These developments now allow staining of T cells where the interaction between the pMHC and the T-cell receptor is over 20-fold weaker ( KD > 1 m m) than could previously be achieved. Such improvements are particularly relevant when using pMHC multimers to stain anti-cancer or autoimmune T-cell populations, which tend to bear lower affinity T-cell receptors. Here, we update our previous work to include discussion of newer tricks that can produce substantially brighter staining even when using log-fold lower concentrations of pMHC multimer. We further provide a practical guide to using pMHC multimers that includes a description of several common pitfalls and how to circumvent them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombinant αβT cell receptors, expressed onT cell membranes, recognize short peptides presented at the cell surface in complex with MHC molecules.There are two main subsets of αβ T cells: CD8+ T cells that recognize mainly cytosol-derived peptides in the context of MHC class I (pMHC-I), and CD4+ T cells that recognize peptides usually derived from exogenous proteins presented by MHC class II (pMHC-II). Unlike the more uniform peptide lengths (usually 8-13mers) bound in the MHC-I closed groove, MHC-II presented peptides are of a highly variable length.The bound peptides consist of a core bound 9mer (reflecting the binding motif for the particular MHC-II type) but with variable peptide flanking residues (PFRs) that can extend from both the N- and C-terminus of the MHC-II binding groove. Although pMHC-I and pMHC-II play a virtually identical role during T cell responses (T cell antigen presentation) and are very similar in overall conformation, there exist a number of subtle but important differences that may govern the functional dichotomy observed between CD8+ and CD4+T cells. Here, we provide an overview of the impact of structural differences between pMHC-I and pMHC-II and the molecular interactions with the T cell receptor including the functional importance of MHC-II PFRs. We consider how factors such as anatomical location, inflammatory milieu, and particular types of antigen presenting cell might, in theory, contribute to the quantitative (i.e., pMHC ligand frequency) as well as qualitative (i.e., variable PFR) nature of peptide epitopes, and hence offer a means of control and influence of a CD4+ T cell response. Lastly, we review our recent findings showing how modifications to MHC-II PFRs can modify CD4+ T cell antigen recognition. These findings may have novel applications for the development of CD4+ T cell peptide vaccines and diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The T-cell receptor (TCR) recognizes peptides bound to major histocompatibility molecules (MHC) and allows T-cells to interrogate the cellular proteome for internal anomalies from the cell surface. The TCR contacts both MHC and peptide in an interaction characterized by weak affinity (KD = 100 μM to 270 μM). We used phage-display to produce a melanoma-specific TCR (α24β17) with a 30,000-fold enhanced binding affinity (KD = 0.6 nM) to aid our exploration of the molecular mechanisms utilized to maintain peptide specificity. Remarkably, although the enhanced affinity was mediated primarily through new TCR-MHC contacts,α24β17 remained acutely sensitive to modifications at every position along the peptide backbone, mimicking the specificity of the wild type TCR. Thermodynamic analyses revealed an important role for solvation in directing peptide specificity. These findings advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that can govern the exquisite peptide specificity characteristic of TCR recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]