T cells with dual antigen specificity in T cell receptor transgenic mice rejecting allografts

Abstract

Allelic exclusion of T cell receptor (TCR) genes is incomplete: a significant percentage (10-30%) of normal human and mouse peripheral T cells express two surface TCR alpha chains, and a small percentage of peripheral human T cells have been reported to express two surface TCR beta chains. A proportion of thymocytes in TCR transgenic mice rearrange endogenous T cell receptor genes, and peripheral T cells with two TCR alpha chains, transgenic and endogenous, have been reported. T cell clones with more than a single TCR heterodimer on their surface might be expected to show specificity for more than one cognate antigen: we report here a T cell clone with dual antigen specificity, isolated from an F5 TCR influenza nucleoprotein (NP 366-374/Db)-specific transgenic female mouse which had rejected an H-2-matched male skin graft. It was selected in vitro by stimulation with male H-2b spleen cells in the absence of the NP366-374 peptide but has specificity for both H-Y/Db and NP366-374. This contrasted with the single NP366-374/Db specificity shown by a control clone isolated from a Rag1-/- F5 mouse. The dual antigen specificity was associated with the rearrangement of endogenous TCR genes and cell surface expression of these as well as the TCR transgene.