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Detection Of Cardiac Myosin Heavy Chain-Α-Specific Cd4 Cells By Using Mhc Class Ii/IaK Tetramers In A/J Mice, Chandirasegara Massilamany, Arunakumar Gangaplara, Nora M. Chapman, Noel Rose, Jay Reddy

Jay Reddy Publications

A/J mice bearing the H-2 allele IAk are highly susceptible to autoimmune myocarditis induced with cardiac myosin heavy chain (Myhc)-α 334–352, whereas B10.A mice carrying a similar allele IAk are relatively resistant, suggesting that the generation of Myhc-α-reactive T cell repertoires is influenced by genetic background. To enumerate the precursor frequencies of Myhc-α-specific CD4 T cells, we sought to create IAk tetramers for Myhc-α 334–352. Tetramers were created using approaches that involve covalent tethering of individual peptide sequences or exogenous loading of peptides into empty IAk molecules by peptide-exchange reaction. Using ribonuclease 43– 56 tetramers as controls, we demonstrated that …