The T cell receptor Vβ6 domain imparts reactivity to the Mls-1 a antigen

Abstract

A monoclonal antibody secreting hybridoma was established by fusing spleen cells from a rat immunized with a murine T cell clone, OI11, which has I-Ab restricted specificity for the male H-Y antigen and unrestricted specificity for the minor lymphocyte stimulating antigen, Mls-1 a, to the mouse myeloma P3X63AG8.653 and screening for the capacity of the hybridoma supernatants to stimulate the OI11 T cell clone. An antibody (RR4–7) was found to be specific not only for the immunizing T cell clone but virtually for all T cells using the Vβ6 TCR gene product as part of their surface antigen receptor. When the expression of the Vβ6 gene in various strains of mice was analyzed, it was found that strains expressing the Mls-1 a antigen contained few T cells expressing Vβ6-encoded TCRs. The majority of T cell hybridomas which expressed Vβ6-encoded TCRs were found to be reactive to the Mls-1 a antigen. These data confirm the finding of H. R. MacDonald et al. (Nature (London) 332, 40, 1988) that most TCRs encoded by the Vβ6 gene have a biased specificity for the Mls-1 a antigen.