English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

T cell activation, initiated by T cell receptor (TCR) mediated recognition of pathogen-derived peptides presented by major histocompatibility complex class I or II molecules (pMHC), shows exquisite specificity and sensitivity, even though the TCR–pMHC binding interaction is of low affinity. Recent experimental work suggests that TCR pre-clustering may be a mechanism via which T cells can achieve such high sensitivity. The unresolved stoichiometry of the TCR makes TCR–pMHC binding and TCR triggering, an open question. We formulate a mathematical model to characterize the pre-clustering of T cell receptors (TCRs) on the surface of T cells, motivated by the experimentally observed distribution of TCR clusters on the surface of naive and memory T cells. We extend a recently introduced stochastic criterion to compute the timescales of T cell responses, assuming that ligand-induced cross-linked TCR is the minimum signaling unit. We derive an approximate formula for the mean time to signal initiation. Our results show that pre-clustering reduces the mean activation time. However, additional mechanisms favoring the existence of clusters are required to explain the difference between naive and memory T cell responses. We discuss the biological implications of our results, and both the compatibility and complementarity of our approach with other existing mathematical models.

Receptor Pre-Clustering and T cell Responses: Insights into Molecular Mechanisms