Abstract
Theoretical studies of T cell receptor signalling and T cell activation have become a well-known part of immunology and the models described in this chapter provide a good basis for future studies. Nonetheless it is crucial that, over the next few years, modelers seek to expand the scope of their efforts and provide a more comprehensive, predictive and multifaceted approach to T cell receptor signalling. Currently available models usually provide qualitative results and cannot be confidently parameterized. To obtain more precise and predictive models will be difficult but is plausible given improvements in quantitative experimental techniques and their quick adoption by experimentalists.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Sykulev Y, Joo M, Vturina I, Tsomides TJ, Eisen HN (1996) Evidence that a single peptide-MHC complex on a target cell can elicit a cytolytic T cell response. Immunity 4:565–571
Irvine DJ, Purbhoo MA, Krogsgaard M, Davis MM (2002) Direct observation of ligand recognition by T cells. Nature 419:845–849
Sloan-Lancaster J, Shaw AS, Rothbard JB, Allen PM (1994) Partial T cell signaling: Altered phospho-ζ and lack of ZAP-70 recruitment in APL-induced T cell anergy. Cell 79:913–922
Kersh GJ, Miley MJ, Nelson CA, Grakoui A, Horvath S, Donermeyer DL, Kappler J, Allen PM, Fremont DH (2001) Structural and functional consequences of altering a peptide MHC anchor residue. J Immunol 166:3345–3354
Jönsson U, Fägerstam L, Ivarsson B, Johnsson B, Karlsson R, Lundh K, Löfás S, Persson B, Roos H, Rönnberg I (1991) Real-time biospecific interaction analysis using surface plasmon resonance and a sensor chip technology. BioTechniques 11:620–627
Malmqvist M (1993) Biospecific interaction analysis using biosensor technology. Nature 361:186–187
van der Merwe PA (2001) The TCR triggering puzzle. Immunity 14:665–668
Tolentino TP, Wu J, Zarnitsyana VI, Fang Y, Dustin ML, Zhu C (2008) Measuring diffusion and binding kinetics by contact area FRAP. Biophys J 95:920–930
Dushek O, Das R, Coombs D (2009) A role for rebinding in rapid and reliable T cell responses to antigen. PLoS Comput Biol 5:e1000578
Aleksic M, Dushek O, Zhang H, Shenderov E, Chen JL, Cerundolo V, Coombs D, van der Merwe PA (2010) Dependence of T cell antigen recognition on T cell receptor-peptide MHC confinement time. Immunity 32:1–12
Wofsy C, Coombs D, Goldstein B (2001) Calculations show substantial serial engagement of T cell receptors. Biophys J 80:606–612
Qi S, Krogsgaard M, Davis MM, Chakraborty AK (2006) Molecular flexibility can influence the stimulatory ability of receptor-ligand interactions at cell-cell junctions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:4416–4421
Krogsgaard M, Prado N, Adams EJ, He XL, Chow DC, Wilson DB, Garcia KC, Davis MM (2003) Evidence that structural rearrangements and/or flexibility during TCR binding can contribute to T cell activation. Mol Cells 12:1367–1378
van der Merwe PA, Davis SJ (2003) Molecular interactions mediating T cell antigen recognition. Annu Rev Immunol 21:659–684
Feinerman O, Germain RN, Altan-Bonnet G (2008) Quantitative challenges in understanding ligand discrimination by alphabeta T cells. Mol Immunol 45:619–631
Holler PD, Kranz DM (2003) Quantitative analysis of the contribution of TCR/pepMHC affinity and CD8 to T cell activation. Immunity 18:255–264
Tian S, Maile R, Collins EJ, Frelinger JA (2007) CD8+ T cell activation is governed by TCR-peptide/MHC affinity, not dissociation rate. J Immunol 179:2952–2960
Wooldridge L, van den Berg HA, Glick M, Gostick E, Laugel B, Hutchinson SL, Milicic A, Brenchley JM, Douek DC, Price DA, Sewell AK (2005) Interaction between the CD8 coreceptor and major histocompatibility complex class I stabilizes T cell receptor-antigen complexes at the cell surface. J Biol Chem 280:27491–27501
van den Berg HA, Rand DA, Burroughs NJ (2001) A reliable and safe T cell repertoire based on low-affinity T cell receptors. J Theor Biol 209:465–486
McKeithan K (1995) Kinetic proofreading in T-cell receptor signal transduction. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:5042–5046
Hopfield JJ (1974) Kinetic proofreading: A new mechanism for reducing errors in biosynthetic processes requiring high specificity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 71:4135–4139
Ninio J (1975) Kinetic amplification of enzyme discrimination. Biochimie 57:587–595
van den Berg HA, Burroughs NJ, Rand DA (2002) Quantifying the strength of ligand antagonism in TCR triggering. Bull Math Biol 64:781–808
Coombs D, Kalergis AM, Nathenson SG, Wofsy C, Goldstein B (2002) Activated TCRs remain marked for internalization after dissociation from pMHC. Nat Immunol 3:926–931
Chan C, George AJT, Stark J (2003) T cell sensitivity and specificity - kinetic proofreading revisited. Discrete Continuous Dyn Syst - Series B 3:343–360
Gonzalez PA, Carreno LJ, Coombs D, Mora JE, Palmieri E, Goldstein B, Nathenson SG, Kalergis AM (2005) T cell receptor binding kinetics required for T cell activation depend on the density of cognate ligand on the antigen-presenting cell. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 4824–4829
Wedagedera JR, Burroughs NJ (2006) T-cell activation: A queuing theory analysis at low agonist density. Biophys J 91:1604–1618
George AJT, Stark J, Chan C (2005) Understanding specificity and sensitivity of T-cell recognition. Trends Immunol 26:653–659
Campi G, Varma R, Dustin ML (2005) Actin and agonist MHC-peptide complex-dependent T cell receptor microclusters as scaffolds for signaling. J Exp Med 202:1031–1036
Varma R, Campi G, Yokosuka T, Saito T, Dustin ML (2006) T cell receptor-proximal signals are sustained in peripheral microclusters and terminated in the central supramolecular activation cluster. Immunity 25:117–127
Valitutti S, Muller S, Cella M, Padovan E, Lanzavecchia A (1995) Serial triggering of many T-cell receptors by a few peptide-MHC complexes. Nature 375:148–151
Dushek O, Coombs D (2008) Analysis of serial engagement and peptide-MHC transport in T cell receptor microclusters. Biophys J 94:3447–3460
Torigoe C, Inman JK, Metzger H (1998) An unusual mechanism for ligand antagonism. Science 281:568–572
Faeder JR, Hlavacek WS, Reischl I, Blinov ML, Metzger H, Redondo A, Wofsy C, Goldstein B (2003) Investigation of early events in FceRI-mediated signaling using a detailed mathematical model. J Immunol 170:3769–3781
Goldstein B, Coombs D, Faeder JR, Hlavacek WS (2008) Kinetic proofreading model. Adv Exp Med Biol 640:82–94
Stefanová I, Hemmer B, Vergelli M, Martin R, Biddison WE, Germain RN (2003) TCR ligand discrimination is enforced by competing ERK positive and SHP-1 negative feedback pathways. Nat Immunol 4:248–254
Altan-Bonnet G, Germain RN (2005) Modeling T cell antigen discrimination based on feedback control of digital ERK responses. PLoS Biol 3:e356
Lipniacki T, Hat B, Faeder JR, Hlavacek WS (2008) Stochastic effects and bistability in T cell receptor signaling. J Theor Biol 254:110–122
Lauffenburger D, Linderman J (1993) Receptors: Models for binding, trafficking, and signaling. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Rabinowitz JD, Beeson C, Lyons DS, Davis MM, McConnell HM (1996) Kinetic discrimination in T-cell activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:1401
Chan C, George AJT, Stark J (2001) Cooperative enhancement of specificity in a lattice of T cell receptors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:5758–5763
Chan C, Stark J, George AJT (2004) Feedback control of T-cell receptor activation. Proc R Soc B: Biol Sci 271:931–939
Wylie DC, Das J, Chakraborty AK (2007) Sensitivity of T cells to antigen and antagonism emerges from differential regulation of the same molecular signaling module. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:5533–5538
Feinerman O, Veiga J, Dorfman JR, Germain RN, Altan-Bonnet G (2008) Variability and robustness in T cell activation from regulated heterogeneity in protein levels. Science 321:1081–1084
Casal A, Sumen C, Reddy TE, Alber MS, Lee PP (2005) Agent-based modeling of the context dependency in T cell recognition. J Theor Biol 236:376–391
Wylie DC, Hori Y, Dinner AR, Chakraborty AK (2006) A hybrid deterministic-stochastic algorithm for modeling cell signaling dynamics in spatially inhomogeneous environments and under the influence of external fields. J Phys Chem B 110:12749–12765
Dushek O (2008) Mathematical modeling in cellular immunology: T cell activation and parameter estimation. PhD thesis, University of British Columbia
Choudhuri K, Kearney A, Bakker TR, van der Merwe PA (2005) Immunology: How do T cells recognize antigen? Curr Opin Biol 15:R382–R385
Choudhuri K, van der Merwe PA (2007) Molecular mechanisms involved in T cell receptor triggering. Semin Immunol 19:255–261
Ma Z, Janmey PA, Finkel TH (2008) The receptor deformation model of TCR triggering. FASEB J 22:1002–1008
Aivazian D, Stern LJ (2000) Phosphorylation of T cell receptor zeta is regulated by a lipid dependent folding transition. Nature 7:1023–1026
Gil D, Schamel WWA, Montoya M, Sánchez-Madrid F, Alarcón B (2002) Recruitment of Nck by CD3ε reveals a ligand-induced conformational change essential for T cell receptor signaling and synapse formation. Cell 109:901–912
Xu C, Gagnon E, Call ME, Schnell JR, Schwieters CD, Carman CV, Chou JJ, Wucherpfennig KW (2008) Regulation of T cell receptor activation by dynamic membrane binding of the CD3epsilon cytoplasmic tyrosine-based motif. Cell 135:702–713
Gil D, Schrum AG, Alarcon B, Palmer E (2005) T cell receptor engagement by peptide-MHC ligands induces a conformational change in the CD3 complex of thymocytes. J Exp Med 201:517–522
Mingueneau M, Sansoni A, Grégoire C, Roncagalli R, Aguado E, Weiss A, Malissen M, Malissen B (2008) The proline-rich sequence of CD3epsilon controls T cell antigen receptor expression on and signaling potency in preselection CD4 + CD8 +  thymocytes. Nat Immunol 9:522–532
Heldin CH (1995) Dimerization of cell surface receptors in signal transduction. Cell 80: 213–223
Cochran JR, Cameron TO, Stern LJ (2000) The relationship of MHC-peptide binding and T cell activation probed using chemically defined MHC class II oligomers. Immunity 12:241–250
Krogsgaard M, Li QJ, Sumen C, Huppa JB, Huse M, Davis MM (2005) Agonist/endogenous peptide-MHC heterodimers drive T cell activation and sensitivity. Nature 434:238–243
Bachmann MF, Salzmann M, Oxenius A, Ohashi PS (1998) Formation of TCR dimers/trimers as a crucial step for T cell activation. Eur J Immunol 28:2571–2579
Utzny C, Coombs D, Müller S, Valitutti S (2006) Analysis of peptide/MHC-induced TCR downregulation: Deciphering the triggering kinetics. Cell Biochem Biophys 46:101–111
Salzmann M, Bachmann MF (1998) The role of T cell receptor dimerization for T cell antagonism and T cell specificity. Mol Immunol 35:271–277
Bachmann MF, Ohashi PS (1999) The role of T-cell receptor dimerization in T-cell activation. Immunol Today 20:568–576
Wyer J, Willcox B, Gao G, Gerth U, Davis S, Bell J, van der Merwe P, Jakobsen B (1999) T cell receptor and coreceptor CD8 alphaalpha bind peptide-MHC independently and with distinct kinetics. Immunity 10:219–225
Yokosuka T, Sakata-Sogawa K, Kobayashi W, Hiroshima M, Hashimoto-Tane A, Tokunaga M, Dustin ML, Saito T (2005) Newly generated T cell receptor microclusters initiate and sustain T cell activation by recruitment of Zap70 and SLP-76. Nat Immunol 6:1253–1262
Davis SJ, van der Merwe PA (1996) The structure and ligand interactions of CD2: Implications for T-cell function. Immunol Today 17:177–187
van der Merwe PA, Davis SJ, Shaw AS, Dustin ML (2000) Cytoskeletal polarization and redistribution of cell-surface molecules during T cell antigen recognition. Semin Immunol 12:5–21
Davis SJ, van der Merwe PA (2006) The kinetic-segregation model: TCR triggering and beyond. Nat Immunol 7:803–809
Springer TA (1990) Adhesion receptors of the immune system. Nature 346:425–434
Burroughs NJ, Lazic Z, van der Merwe PA (2006) Ligand detection and discrimination by spatial relocalization: A kinase-phosphatase segregation model of TCR activation. Biophys J 91:1619–1629
Acknowledgments
DC and OD acknowledge financial support from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems National Centre of Excellence. PAV is supported by the UK Medical Research Council. We also thank Salvatore Valitutti and Raibatak Das for valuable discussions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Coombs, D., Dushek, O., van der Merwe, P.A. (2011). A Review of Mathematical Models for T Cell Receptor Triggering and Antigen Discrimination. In: Molina-ParÃs, C., Lythe, G. (eds) Mathematical Models and Immune Cell Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7725-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7725-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-7724-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-7725-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)