TCR-Ligand koff rate correlates with the protective capacity of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells for adoptive transfer.

Adoptive immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of chronic infections and cancer. Thereby, T cells within a certain range of high avidity for their cognate ligand are believed to be most effective. T cell receptor (TCR) transfer experiments indicate that a major part of avidity is hard-wired within the structure of the TCR. Unfortunately, rapid measurement of structural avidity of TCRs is difficult on living T cells. We developed a technology, where dissociation (koff-rate) of truly monomeric peptide major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) molecules bound to surface expressed TCRs can be monitored by real-time microscopy in a highly reliable manner. A first eval…