Antibodies that react with bovine T lymphocytes expressing the T cell receptor β chain subgroup BV20 inhibit antigen recognition

• Published in: Veterinary immunology and immunopathology Vol. 246; p. 110392
• Main Authors: Morrison, W. Ivan, Sheldrake, Tara, Connelley, Timothy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-04-2022
• Subjects: BV subfamily; Cattle; Monoclonal antibody; T cell receptor; β Chain variable gene; BV subfamily; β Chain variable gene; T cell receptor; Monoclonal antibody; Cattle
• ISSN: 0165-2427; 1873-2534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2022.110392

•Monoclonal antibodies recognise the bovine TCR β chain variable gene subfamily BV20.•One reacts with 6 BV20 subfamily members, the other only reacts with two members.•One antibody inhibits CD8 T cell cytotoxicity at the level of the effector cell.•Provides the first reagents for functional studies of the bovine TCR.
In recent years, molecular studies have provided detailed information on the bovine T cell receptor (TCR) variable gene repertoire, both in resting T cells and during T cell responses. However, studies of the biological function of the receptor have been hampered by a lack of reagents that recognise the protein. Herein, we describe the characterisation of two antibodies (IL-A47 and IL-A98) that recognise T cells expressing the TCR VB20 subfamily of BV genes. These antibodies each recognise a small subset of αβ T cells in PBMC, including subsets of both CD4 and CD8 T cells. One of the antibodies (IL-A98) recognises a smaller subset of cells within the IL-A47+ population. When tested on a panel of T cell clones expressing different αβ TCR subfamilies of β chain genes, IL-A47 was found to react only with clones expressing the BV20 subfamily, which in cattle has undergone expansion due to gene duplication; IL-A98 reacted with a subset of the BV20 subfamily members. IL-A47 was shown to profoundly inhibit recognition of target cells by cytotoxic T cell clones, an effect that was mediated via the effector T cell rather than the target cells.