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T-cell receptor recognition of HLA-DQ2–gliadin complexes associated with celiac disease

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 21, pages 480–488 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Celiac disease is a T cell–mediated disease induced by dietary gluten, a component of which is gliadin. 95% of individuals with celiac disease carry the HLA (human leukocyte antigen)-DQ2 locus. Here we determined the T-cell receptor (TCR) usage and fine specificity of patient-derived T-cell clones specific for two epitopes from wheat gliadin, DQ2.5-glia-α1a and DQ2.5-glia-α2. We determined the ternary structures of four distinct biased TCRs specific for those epitopes. All three TCRs specific for DQ2.5-glia-α2 docked centrally above HLA-DQ2, which together with mutagenesis and affinity measurements provided a basis for the biased TCR usage. A non–germline encoded arginine residue within the CDR3β loop acted as the lynchpin within this common docking footprint. Although the TCRs specific for DQ2.5-glia-α1a and DQ2.5-glia-α2 docked similarly, their interactions with the respective gliadin determinants differed markedly, thereby providing a basis for epitope specificity.

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Figure 1: Reactivity pattern of glia-α1– and glia-α2–specific T-cell clones.
Figure 2: Affinity data for TCR–HLA-DQ2.5-gliadin interactions.
Figure 3: Interactions at the interface of S2 and HLA-DQ2-glia-α1a.
Figure 4: Docking of TRBV7-2 TCRs onto HLA-DQ2.
Figure 5: Interactions at the TCR–HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2 interface.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the Monash crystallization facility and the Australian Synchrotron for assistance with crystallization and data collection, respectively. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, the Celiac Disease Consortium and an Innovative Cluster approved by The Netherlands Genomics Initiative and was funded in part by the Dutch government (grant BSIK03009). We thank J. Tye-Din for assistance. J.R. is supported by an Australia Fellowship from the NHMRC.

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Author notes

  1. Jan Petersen and Veronica Montserrat: These authors contributed equally to this work.

  2. Hugh H Reid, Frits Koning and Jamie Rossjohn: These authors jointly directed this work.

  3. hugh.reid@monash.edu

  4. f.koning@lumc.nl

  5. jamie.rossjohn@monash.edu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Jan Petersen, Khai Lee Loh, Dennis X Beringer, Hugh H Reid, Hugh H Reid & Jamie Rossjohn

  2. Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Veronica Montserrat, Jorge R Mujico, Menno van Lummel, Allan Thompson, Yvonne Kooy-Winkelaar, Jeroen van Bergen, Jan W Drijfhout, Frits Koning & Frits Koning

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    M Luisa Mearin, Joachim Schweizer & Jamie Rossjohn

  4. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Wan-Ting Kan & Nicole L La Gruta

  5. ImmusanT, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert P Anderson

  6. Institute of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK

    Jamie Rossjohn

  7. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Jamie Rossjohn

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Contributions

J.P. and V.M. are joint first authors. J.R.M., K.L.L., D.X.B., M.v.L., A.T., M.L.M., J.S., Y.K.-W., J.v.B., J.W.D., W.-T.K., N.L.L.G. and R.P.A. performed experiments, provided key reagents and/or analyzed data and/or provided intellectual input or helped write the manuscript. H.H.R., F.K. and J.R. are joint senior and corresponding authors, co-led the investigation and contributed to the design and interpretation of data, project management and writing of the manuscript.

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Competing interests

R.P.A. is a co-inventor of patents pertaining to the use gluten peptides in therapeutics, diagnostics and nontoxic gluten. R.P.A. is a shareholder and Chief Scientific Officer of ImmusanT Inc., a company developing a peptide-based therapy and diagnostic suitable for celiac disease.

Integrated supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1 Unbiased electron density maps of the peptides.

Simulated annealing omit electron density maps (2Fo-Fc) for the peptide in a) S2-HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α1a, b) S16-HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2, c) D2-HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2, d) JR5.1-HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2

Supplementary Figure 2 Affinity measurements of D2 TCR mutants binding to HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2.

Surface plasmon resonance analysis of D2 TCR mutants interacting with HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2. a) Concentration series of each TCR were passed over surface immobilized HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2. For KD determination all data from (n=) replicate experiments was combined for each mutant, and the single ligand binding model was used for curve fitting. The maximal calculated response (not shown) for each concentration series was used for data normalization (normalized response +/− SD). b) Comparison of KD values for binding to HLA-DQ2.5-glia-α2 of the D2 TCR and of the D2 TCR mutants. The dashed and dotted lines represent the cut off for a significant (5-fold) increase and a moderate (3-fold) increase in KD over the value determined for the D2 TCR wildtype (15.8 μM). Significant, moderate or no increase of KD values is represented by striped, grey and empty bars, respectively.

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Petersen, J., Montserrat, V., Mujico, J. et al. T-cell receptor recognition of HLA-DQ2–gliadin complexes associated with celiac disease. Nat Struct Mol Biol 21, 480–488 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2817

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