Type I natural killer T cells (NKT cells) are characterized by an invariant variable region 14–joining region 18 (Vα14-Vα18) T cell antigen receptor (TCR) α-chain and recognition of the glycolipid α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) restricted to the antigen-presenting molecule CD1d. Here we describe a population of α-GalCer-reactive NKT cells that expressed a canonical Vα10-Jα50 TCR α-chain, which showed a preference for α-glucosylceramide (α-GlcCer) and bacterial α-glucuronic acid–containing glycolipid antigens. Structurally, despite very limited TCRα sequence identity, the Vα10 TCR–CD1d–α-GlcCer complex had a docking mode similar to that of type I TCR–CD1d–α-GalCer complexes, although differences at the antigen-binding interface accounted for the altered antigen specificity. Our findings provide new insight into the structural basis and evolution of glycolipid antigen recognition and have notable implications for the scope and immunological role of glycolipid-specific T cell responses.

Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins are key regulators of innate and adaptive immunity. There is no described biological role for SOCS4, despite broad expression in the hematopoietic system. We demonstrate that mice lacking functional SOCS4 protein rapidly succumb to infection with a pathogenic H1N1 influenza virus (PR8) and are hypersusceptible to infection with the less virulent H3N2 (X31) strain. In SOCS4-deficient animals, this led to substantially greater weight loss, dysregulated pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production in the lungs and delayed viral clearance. This was associated with impaired trafficking of influenza-specific CD8 T cells to the site of infection and linked to defects in T cell receptor activation. These results demonstrate that SOCS4 is a critical regulator of anti-viral immunity.

The H-2Db-restricted CD8 T cell immune response to influenza A is directed at two well-described epitopes, nucleoprotein 366 (NP366) and acid polymerase 224 (PA224). The responses to the two epitopes are very different. The epitope NP366-specific response is dominated by TCR clonotypes that are public (shared by most mice), whereas the epitope PA224-specific response is private (unique within each infected animal). In addition to being public, the NP366-specific response is dominated by a few clonotypes, when T cell clonotypes expressing the Vβ8.3 element are analyzed. Herein, we show that this response is similarly public when the NP366+Vβ4+ CD8 T cell response is analyzed. Furthermore, to determine whether these features resulted in differences in total TCR diversity in the NP366+ and PA224+ responses, we quantified the number of different CD8 T clonotypes responding to each epitope. We calculated that 50–550 clonotypes recognized each epitope in individual mice. Thus, although the character of the response to the two epitopes appeared to be different (private and diverse vs public and dominated by a few clonotypes), similar numbers of precursor cells responded to both epitopes and this number was of similar magnitude to that previously reported for other viral CD8 T cell epitopes. Therefore, even in CD8 T cell responses that appear to be oligoclonotypic, the total response is highly diverse.

Pathogen-specific responses are characterized by preferred profiles of peptide+class I MHC (pMHCI) glycoprotein-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) Variable (V)-region use. How TCRV-region bias impacts TCRαβ heterodimer selection and resultant diversity is unclear. The D b PA 224 -specific TCR repertoire in influenza A virusinfected C57BL/6J (B6) mice exhibits a preferred TCRV-region bias toward the TRBV29 gene segment and an optimal complementarity determining region (CDR3) β-length of 6 aa. Despite these restrictions, D b PA 224 -specific BV29 + T cells use a wide array of unique CDR3β sequences. Structural characterization of a single, TRBV29 + D b P A224 -specific TCRαβ-pMHCI complex demonstrated that CDR3α amino acid side chains made specific peptide interactions, but the CDR3β main chain exclusively contacted peptides. Thus, length but not amino acid sequence was key for recognition and flexibility in Vβ-region use. In support of this hypothesis, retrovirus expression of the D b PA 224 -specific TCRVα-chain was used to constrain pairing within a naive/immune epitope-specific repertoire. The retrogenic TCRVα paired with a diversity of CDR3βs in the context of a preferred TCRVβ spectrum. Overall, these data provide an explanation for the combination of TCRV region bias and diversity within selected repertoires, even as they maintain exquisite pMHCI specificity.T cell repertoire | T-cell receptor bias | crystal structure T he adaptive T-cell response to viruses is mediated via T-cell receptor (TCR)-αβ glycoprotein heterodimer recognition of pathogen-derived peptides (p) complexed to cell-surface MHC glycoproteins. During T-cell development, somatic recombination of variable (V) and joining (J) or V, diversity (D), and J gene segments (1) leads to the emergence of a diverse spectrum of TCRα-and TCRβ-chains. Segments of hypervariability within the Vα and Vβ domains, termed complementarity determining regions (CDRs), form the TCRαβ binding site and mediate contact with a given pMHC complex. Although the CDR1 and -2 regions are determined by germ-line sequences of V-genes, the CDR3 region is encoded at the junction of spliced VJ (TCRα) and VDJ (TCRβ) gene segments. The murine TCRβ (TRB) locus consists of 35 V, 2 D, and 12 J gene segments and the TCRα (TRA) locus has 71 V and 60 J gene segments (2). Beyond the random splicing of different TCRα and TCRβ genes, the overall spectrum of TCR diversity largely reflects the inefficient splicing of DNA encoding the CDR3α and CDR3β loops (3) plus the addition of nontemplated encoded nucleotides at the V(D)J junctions (4). Finally, different pairings of rearranged TCRα-and TCRβ-chains are selected during thymic differentiation to give the naive TCRαβ repertoire.

Modulation of CD8 coreceptor levels can profoundly affect T-cell sensitivity to antigen. Here we show that the heritable downregulation of CD8 during type 2 polarization of murine CD8+ effector T cells in vitro and in vivo is associated with CpG methylation of several regions of the Cd8a locus. These epigenetic modifications are maintained long-term in vivo following adoptive transfer. Even after extended type 2 polarization, however, some CD8low effector cells respond to interferon-γ by re-expressing CD8 and a type 1 cytokine profile in association with partial Cd8a demethylation. Cd8a methylation signatures in naive, polarized and repolarized cells are distinct from those observed during the initiation, maintenance and silencing of CD8 expression by developing T cells in the thymus. This persistent capacity for epigenetic reprogramming of coreceptor levels on effector CD8+ T cells enables the heritable tuning of antigen sensitivity in parallel with changes in type 1/type 2 cytokine balance.