Identifying the inheritable component of human thymic T cell repertoire generation in monozygous twins

摘要

A basic determinant of adaptive immune responses is T cell antigen receptor (TCR) repertoire, generated in a stochastic fashion during thymic T cell development [1]. Heterodimeric TCRs consist of alpha and beta chains assembled in somatic recombination of gene segments and are subjected to rigorous selection steps that eliminate nonfunctional and potentially self-reactive receptors [2]. Despite the stochastic nature of TCR repertoire generation, inheritable factors may influence both the recombination and selection, as genetic factors determine the gene segment composition, the enzymatic machinery, and to some extent also the TCR selecting ligandome.