Microbiota dictate T cell clonal selection to augment graft-versus-host disease after stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic T cell expansion is the primary determinant of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and current dogma dictates that this is driven by histocompatibility antigen disparities between donor and recipient. This paradigm represents a closed genetic system within which donor T cells interact with peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs), though clonal interrogation remains challenging due to the sparseness of the T cell repertoire. We developed a Bayesian model using donor and recipient T cell receptor (TCR) frequencies in murine stem cell transplant systems to define limited common expansion of T cell clones across genetically identical donor-recipient pairs.

A Diverse Lipid Antigen-Specific TCR Repertoire Is Clonally Expanded during Active Tuberculosis.

Human T cells that recognize lipid Ags presented by highly conserved CD1 proteins often express semi-invariant TCRs, but the true diversity of lipid Ag-specific TCRs remains unknown. We use CD1b tetramers and high-throughput immunosequencing to analyze thousands of TCRs from ex vivo-sorted or in vitro-expanded T cells specific for the mycobacterial lipid Ag, glucose monomycolate. Our results reveal a surprisingly diverse repertoire resulting from editing of germline-encoded gene rearrangements analogous to MHC-restricted TCRs.

The transcription factor encyclopedia.

Here we present the Transcription Factor Encyclopedia (TFe), a new web-based compendium of mini review articles on transcription factors (TFs) that is founded on the principles of open access and collaboration. Our consortium of over 100 researchers has collectively contributed over 130 mini review articles on pertinent human, mouse and rat TFs. Notable features of the TFe website include a high-quality PDF generator and web API for programmatic data retrieval.