Adaptive Immunity Flashcards
Production of viral proteins
Viral proteins are made within the host cell, by the hosts own protein synthesis machinery
An effective immune system has to do what?
Devise a system to sample both vacuolar and cytoplasmic compartments
All proteins in a cell - both ____ and ____ are degraded into _____
Cellular; Foreign; Fragments (peptides)
Antigen presentation
Peptide fragments of proteins are “presented” to T cells on Class I or Class II MHC molecules
Concepts underlying class I MHC antigen presentation to T Cells
1) Proteins must be tagged for destruction
2) Protelysis must occur to generate peptides of the appropriate size
3) Peptides must be delivered to class I MHC molecules
4) Peptides must bind to class I MHC molecules
5) Peptides must be displayed to T cells in the context of class I MHC molecules
How are proteins tagged for proteolysis
Ubiquitin (small 8 kDa) added to protein destined for degradation - Ub on lysine residues
If a protein is destined for degradation, ubiquitin molecules are added to the ubiquitin to form a Ub chain
3 types of protease activity associated with proteasome
Chymotrypsin-like (The important one)
Trypsin-like
Capsase-like
IFN-γ
IFN-γ - protective cytokine usually associated with virus infection
Induces expression of 3 replacement of β proteasome subunits called LMPs, which increase the production of peptides suitable for antigen presentation (chymotrypsin activity)
Immunoproteasome
Proteasome once replacement subunits are encoded in the MHC
How many subunits in the proteasome
7
Actions of the proteasome
The ubiquitin must be removed before entry into the proteasome - done by isopeptidases
Unfoldases (associated with proteasome) stretch out the protein
Proteasome generates peptides of 4-20 amino acid residues
TAP (Peptide delivery)
Transporter associated with antigen processing - transports peptides into ER
TAP characteristics
Encoded in MHC
12 membrane spanning domain integral membrane proteins
One substrate: peptides
Peptides ending in L,I,V,M favored substrates
Size range:6-15 amino acid residues
What types of amino acids do degraded peptides end in
Hydrophobic (Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine, methionine)
Peptide generation and loading onto class I molecules (3 steps)
1) proteolysis of proteins - not totally random, but diverse (4-20 residues)
2) TAP transporter - selects for subset ending with L, I, V, M (6-15 residues)
3) Binding to class I MHC molecule - strict size restrictions and anchor residues (8-10 residues)
Class I MHC antigen processing and presentation (5 steps)
- Proteins tagged for destruction
- Proteolysis (peptides ending in L,I,V,M)
- Delivery of peptide (selction for L, I, V, M - enders)
- Binding of peptide (chaperone-mediated)
- Transport to the cell surface and presentation to T cells
Why don’t T cells recognize all cells as foreign
T cell receptors (TCR) recognize the combination of self MHC + peptide
How does a T cell know whether it is seeing self or foreign peptide?
During development, we generate a population of newborn T cells that have the capacity to recognize everything, including self peptide +MHC
Then we eliminate the T cells that recognize self peptide in complex with self-MHC
Alloreactivity
Some of the positively selected TCRs that bind weakly to self MHC + self peptide may bind strongly to non-self MHC and peptide
Thymic education (3 possibilities)
“Education” of T cells in the thymus
1) NO affinity - T Cell dies (death by neglect)
2) High affinity - T cell dies
3) Weak/moderate affinity - T cell lives to leave the thymus and populate the periphery
What causes rejection of transplanted tissue
Alloreactivity - reactivity of T cells to non-self (allogenic) MHC class I or class II molecules
Class I MHC chains (1 gene)
β2 Microglobulin, α1, α2, α3
Class II MHC chains (2 genes)
α1, α2, β1, β2
How do peptides contribute to MHC molecules
Considered a subunit of these MHC molecules - if no peptide bound, the MHC molecules fall apart