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Invariant TR alpha chain

The "invariant" TR alpha chain of the human CD161+ T cells which recognize CD1d results from the TRAV10-TRAJ18 (previously Valpha24-JalphaQ) rearrangement. CD161 is expressed by ~ 15 % of human T cells but only a very small fraction of these CD161+ T cells are invariant NK T cells (<0,1 % of total T cells and <1 % of CD161+ T cells in most donors) [1]. The "invariant" TR alpha chain of the murine NK1.1+ (NKR-P1C, CD161) T cells which recognize CD1d results from the TRAV11-TRAJ18 (previously Valpha14-Jalpha281) rearrangement (it remains to be demonstrated if both the TRAV11 and TRAV11D genes, which have a 100 % identical V-REGION, are involved). CD161 is expressed by ~ 1 % of mouse T cells and a large fraction of these CD161+ T cells are invariant NK T cells [1].

Reference:
[1] Exley, M.A. et al., Current Protocols in Immunology, Wiley, J. and Sons, New York, 14, 14.11.1-14.11.13 (2002).
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