Eli Sercarz pioneered epitope recognition by T cells. Studying mice, he made the seminal observation decades ago that epitope dominance is so unpredictable with mixed MHC haplotypes that he coined it aleatory, for dice-like. Accordingly, for every individual there is a unique potential epitope space that is defined by the polymorphic and polygenic MHC molecules (restriction elements) expressed. Of this potential epitope space, some peptides will elicit stronger T cell responses than others, bringing about the actually realized epitope space. The selection of the actually recognized peptides from the potential epitope space is random, however, resulting in unique epitope dominance and hierarchy patterns in individuals. Engaging in brute-force epitope scans, which permit the assessment of the entire potential epitope space at the highest possible resolution, we observe aleatory epitope recognition in human CD8 cell responses to viruses. Because the selection of peptide has fundamental implications for successful T cell immune monitoring, we dedicate this article to Eli Sercarz in a special issue of Critical Reviews^™ in Immunology in his honor.

中文翻译：

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活化表位识别普遍存在于人类T细胞反应中？

Eli Sercarz率先通过T细胞识别表位。在研究小鼠时，他在数十年前做出了开创性的观察，即混合MHC单倍型无法预测抗原决定簇的优势，因此将其创造为偶然的。，像骰子一样。因此，对于每个个体，都有一个独特的潜在表位空间，该空间由表达的多态性和多基因MHC分子（限制元件）定义。在这种潜在的表位空间中，某些肽会比其他肽引起更强的T细胞反应，从而实现实际实现的表位空间。然而，从潜在的表位空间中实际识别的肽的选择是随机的，从而导致个体中独特的表位优势和等级模式。从事蛮力抗原决定簇扫描，它允许以最高可能的分辨率评估整个潜在抗原决定簇空间，我们观察到人类CD8细胞对病毒的反应中存在偶然的抗原决定簇识别。由于肽段的选择对成功进行T细胞免疫监测具有根本意义，为了表彰他对免疫学的Critical Reviews ^™ 。