Marc Rigau, Simone Ostrouska, Thomas S Fulford, Darryl N Johnson, Katherine Woods, Zheng Ruan, Hamish E G McWilliam, Christopher Hudson, Candani Tutuka, Adam K Wheatley, Stephen J Kent, Jose A Villadangos, Bhupinder Pal, Christian Kurts, Jason Simmonds, Matthias Pelzing, Andrew D Nash, Andrew Hammet, Anne M Verhagen, Gino Vairo, Eugene Maraskovsky, Con Panousis, Nicholas A Gherardin, Jonathan Cebon, Dale I Godfrey, Andreas Behren, Adam P Uldrich
Gamma delta (γδ) T cells are essential to protective immunity. In humans, most γδ T cells express Vγ9Vδ2+ T cell receptors (TCRs) that respond to phosphoantigens (pAgs) produced by cellular pathogens and overexpressed by cancers. However, the molecular targets recognized by these γδTCRs are unknown. Here, we identify butyrophilin 2A1 (BTN2A1) as a key ligand that binds to the Vγ9+ TCR γ chain. BTN2A1 associates with another butyrophilin, BTN3A1, and these act together to initiate responses to pAg...
February 7, 2020: Science