Coreceptor control of T cell cross-reactivity
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Coreceptor control of T cell cross-reactivity
IRAS ID
141385
Contact name
Linda Wooldridge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research and Enterprise Development Bristol
Research summary
T-cells are key cells in the immune system and are some of the most important cells in our bodies because they: (1) Orchestrate immunity and are key elements in the control of infection; (2) They are important for the natural eradication of cancer, and; (3) When they go wrong they are the cells that cause autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. T cells spring into action when the receptors on their surface recognize bits of microbes and cancer molecules called antigens. In order to deal with all possible infections, our T cells have to be able to recognize more than 1,000,000,000,000,000 different ‘foreign’ antigens. To achieve this, each individual T cell surface molecule can recognize more than 1,000,000 different possible antigens. Therefore T cells are extremely ‘cross-reactive’. However if T cells are too crossreactive they may start to attack our own body thereby causing disease themselves. So it is important that the level of T cell cross-reactivity is carefully controlled to provide an immune response that is good but does not attack our bodies. Here, we aim to examine T-cell crossreactivity across a range of different T-cells and understand how T-cell crossreactivity is controlled.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/SC/0564
Date of REC Opinion
28 Oct 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion