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Synthesis Of Candidate Natural Killer T Cell Ligands, Teron Haynie, Shenglou Deng, Paul B. Savage
Synthesis Of Candidate Natural Killer T Cell Ligands, Teron Haynie, Shenglou Deng, Paul B. Savage
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Natural Killer T (NKT) cells are a subset of T cells that express an invariant T cell receptor (TCR) that recognizes lipid antigens in context of the CD1d molecule. CD1d presents both exogenous and endogenous glycolipids on the surface of antigen presenting cells (APCs). Multiple exogenous lipids capable of NKT cell stimulation have been characterized, but confirmed endogenous ligands are relatively few in number. Recently, a-galactosylceramides were shown to be endogenous NKT cell ligands. We have observed that a-galactosylceramides cyclize in acidic conditions. Since the biosynthetic pathway of lipid presentation via CD1d likely passes through the acidic lysosome, we propose …