Michael T Falta, Jeremy C Crawford, Alex N Tinega, Laurie G Landry, Frances Crawford, Douglas G Mack, Allison K Martin, Shaikh M Atif, Li Li, Radleigh G Santos, Maki Nakayama, John W Kappler, Lisa A Maier, Paul G Thomas, Clemencia Pinilla, Andrew P Fontenot
Discovering dominant epitopes for T cells, particularly CD4+ T cells, in human immune-mediated diseases remains a significant challenge. Here, we used bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells from HLA-DP2-expressing patients with chronic beryllium disease (CBD), a debilitating granulomatous lung disorder characterized by accumulations of beryllium-specific (Be-specific) CD4+ T cells in the lung. We discovered lung-resident CD4+ T cells that expressed a disease-specific public CDR3β T cell receptor motif and were specific to Be-modified self-peptides derived from C-C motif ligand 4 (CCL4) and CCL3...
May 3, 2021: Journal of Clinical Investigation