0000000000978029
AUTHOR
Arthur Melms
Exploring the MHC-peptide matrix of central tolerance in the human thymus
Ever since it was discovered that central tolerance to self is imposed on developing T cells in the thymus through their interaction with self-peptide major histocompatibility complexes on thymic antigen-presenting cells, immunologists have speculated about the nature of these peptides, particularly in humans. Here, to shed light on the so-far unknown human thymic peptide repertoire, we analyse peptides eluted from isolated thymic dendritic cells, dendritic cell-depleted antigen-presenting cells and whole thymus. Bioinformatic analysis of the 842 identified natural major histocompatibility complex I and II ligands reveals significant cross-talk between major histocompatibility complex-class…
Alternatively spliced transcripts of the thymus-specific protease PRSS16 are differentially expressed in human thymus.
The putative serine protease PRSS16 is abundantly expressed in the thymic cortex and the gene is encoded within the HLA I complex. Although its function is not yet defined, the very restricted expression points to a role in T-cell development in the thymus. In this study, we show that the PRSS16 mRNA is alternatively spliced to generate at least five transcripts. Apart from the full-length sequence, we found two other isoforms with all putative active site residues of the serine protease, suggesting that those variants may also be functional. Semi-quantitative analysis of the splice variants in different tissue samples revealed a strong correlation between the specific formation of alternat…