A Public BCR Present in a Unique Dual-Receptor-Expressing Lymphocyte from Type 1 Diabetes Patients Encodes a Potent T Cell Autoantigen.

Affiliation

Computational Biology Center, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA; Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. Electronic address: [Email]

Abstract

T and B cells are the two known lineages of adaptive immune cells. Here, we describe a previously unknown lymphocyte that is a dual expresser (DE) of TCR and BCR and key lineage markers of both B and T cells. In type 1 diabetes (T1D), DEs are predominated by one clonotype that encodes a potent CD4 T cell autoantigen in its antigen binding site. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that this peptide has an optimal binding register for diabetogenic HLA-DQ8. In concordance, a synthetic version of the peptide forms stable DQ8 complexes and potently stimulates autoreactive CD4 T cells from T1D patients, but not healthy controls. Moreover, mAbs bearing this clonotype are autoreactive against CD4 T cells and inhibit insulin tetramer binding to CD4 T cells. Thus, compartmentalization of adaptive immune cells into T and B cells is not absolute, and violators of this paradigm are likely key drivers of autoimmune diseases.

Keywords

DEs,autoantigen,dual expressers,insulin mimotope,islet autoantigen,type 1 diabetes,x-clonotype,x-idiotype,