The adaptive immune responses to foreign Ags are primarily regulated by the cytokines produced by CD4 T cells. The generation of distinct cytokine-producing T cell subsets has been shown to be influenced by a number of factors, including cytokines, different types of APCs, and the amounts of priming Ag. We have previously reported that the affinity of an antigenic peptide for its presenting MHC class II molecules and that different doses of Ag peptide affect the outcome of the functional CD4 T cell response. In the current study, we further examined the impact of the affinity of an antigenic peptide for its TCR on CD4 T cell priming. We generated a panel of Ag peptide variants mutated at positions known to be critical for binding to a well-characterized TCR (known as altered peptide ligands, or APLs). Compared with the WT peptide, these APLs are defective in stimulating the proliferative responses of T cells. However, they can effectively prime in vitro naive CD4 T cells for differentiation into both Th1-like and Th2-like cells. In contrast, the WT peptide primes only for IFN-gamma-producing Th1-like cells. Using highly purified dendritic cells as APCs to present the APL or WT peptide leads to the same pattern of priming as using total splenic APCs. These results indicate that priming by APLs for both IL-4 production and IFN-gamma production does not require two different types of APCs. In summary, our data indicate that APL can directly stimulate naive CD4 T cells to become Th2 effector cells.
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