Self-Organized Criticality Theory of Autoimmunity
Figure 2
TCR revision upon repeated immunization with antigen.
(A) TCR CDR3 length profiles of mice immunized 8× with PBS, 2× or 8× with SEB. TCR repertoire of splenic CD4+ T cell was skewed only after immunization 8× with SEB. (B) Expression of V(D)J recombinase complex and related molecules in the spleen of PBS- or SEB-injected BALB/c mice. (C) GFP+ cells in the Vβ8+CD4+ T population of rag1/gfp knock-in mice. IgG-RF as induced in rag1/gfp knock-in mice after immunization 8× with SEB (lower left). The GFP+ T cell fraction was also increased among Vβ8+CD4+ T cells (mean ± SD, 4–5 mice/group). (D) TCRα chain revision in the spleen of mice immunized 8× with SEB was determined by LM-PCR detection of dsDNA breaks at the RSS flanking the TCRAV2, with PCR-amplified TCRα constant region (TCRAC) as a DNA quality control.