R.L. O'Brien, M.P. Happ, A. Dallas, E. Palmer, et al., "Stimulation of a major subset of lymphocytes expressing T cell receptor gd by an antigen derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis," Cell, 57, 667-74, 19 May 1989.
Rebecca L. O'Brien (National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver): "This paper describes one of the first defined antigens for the gd T cell receptor. Although this receptor structurally resembles the ab T cell receptor, which enables cells to distinguish self from nonself, the gd T cell receptor's function has remained unclear. Our discovery that mycobacterial 65kd heat shock protein (HSP-65) stimulates gd cells thus opened a new door for studying possible roles for these cells.
"Mycbacterial HSP-65 is closely related to a mammalian heat shock protein. Interestingly, the mycobacteria-reactive gd cells were also found to be weakly autoreactive. We speculate that this self response arises from the mammalian homologue of mycobacterial HSP-65 ...
