Specific Roles of Each TCR Hemichain in Generating Functional Chain-Centric TCR

TCR alpha- and beta-chains cooperatively recognize peptide -MHC complexes. It has been shown that a chain-centric TCR hemichain can, by itself, dictate MHC-restricted Ag specificity without requiring major contributions from the paired TCR counterchain. Little is known, however, regarding the relative contributions and roles of chain-centric and its counter, non chain-centric, hemichains in determining T cell avidity. We comprehensively analyzed a thymically unselected T cell repertoire generated by transducing the a-chain centric HLA-A*02:01(A2)/MART1(27-35) TCR alpha, clone SIG35 alpha, into A2-matched and unmatched post-thymic T cells. Regardless of their HLA-A2 positivity, a substantial subset of peripheral T cells transduced with SIG35 alpha gained reactivity for A2/MART1(27-35). Although the generated A2/MART1(27-35) specific T cells used various TRBV genes, TRBV27 predominated with >10(2) highly diverse and unique clonotypic CDR3 beta sequences. T cells individually reconstituted with various A2/MART1(27-35) TRBV27 TCR beta genes along with SIG35a possessed a wide range (>2 log orders) of avidity. Approximately half possessed avidity higher than T cells expressing clone DMF5, a naturally occurring A2/MART1(27-35) TCR with one of the highest affinities. Importantly, similar findings were recapitulated with other self-Ags. Our results indicate that, although a chain-centric TCR hemichain determines Ag specificity, the paired counterchain can regulate avidity over a broad range (>2 log orders) without compromising Ag specificity. TCR chain centricity can be exploited to generate a thymically unselected Ag-specific T cell repertoire, which can be used to isolate high-avidity antitumor T cells and their uniquely encoded TCRs rarely found in the periphery because of tolerance.