The Journal of Immunology, Vol 141, Issue 4 1103-1107, Copyright © 1988 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Triggering of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and NK cells via the Tp103 pathway is dependent on the expression of the T cell receptor/CD3 complex

B Fleischer, E Sturm, JE De Vries and H Spits
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ulm, FRG.

The expression and function of the T cell activation molecule Tp103 on human cloned cytotoxic CD3+ and CD3- cells were studied. All in vitro growing CD3+ and CD3- clones expressed Tp103 regardless of their phenotype and the expression of a CD3-associated TCR complex. Whereas the CD2 pathway was functional in all these clones, only CD3-expressing clones could be triggered via Tp103 to kill target cells. In contrast, both CD2 and Tp103 pathways were suppressed after modulation of the TCR complex with anti-CD3 mAb. This indicates that the function of Tp103 but not of CD2 is dependent on the expression of a functional Ag receptor on cytotoxic T cells. Furthermore, modulation of the Ag receptor induces a state of unresponsiveness in cytotoxic T cells that cannot be attributed to just the removal of the CD3/TCR complex from the cell membrane.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Stankovic, P. Vlahovic, V. Avramovic, and M. Todorovic Distribution of Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV in Patients with Chronic Tonsillitis Clin. Vaccine Immunol., May 1, 2008; 15(5): 794 - 798. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Vauquelin, Y. Michotte, I. Smolders, S. Sarre, G. Ebinger, A. Dupont, and P. Vanderheyden Cellular targets for angiotensin II fragments: pharmacological and molecular evidence Journal of Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, December 1, 2002; 3(4): 195 - 204. [Abstract] [PDF]