scholarly journals Current status and future challenges in T-cell receptor/peptide/MHC molecular dynamics simulations

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1035-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Knapp ◽  
S. Demharter ◽  
R. Esmaielbeiki ◽  
C. M. Deane
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prithvi R. Pandey ◽  
Bartosz Różycki ◽  
Reinhard Lipowsky ◽  
Thomas R. Weikl

AbstractWe investigate the structural and orientational variability of the membrane-embedded T cell receptor (TCR) – CD3 complex in extensive atomistic molecular dynamics simulations based on the recent cryo-EM structure determined by Dong et al. (2019). We find that the TCR extracellular (EC) domain is highly variable in its orientation by attaining tilt angles relative to the membrane normal that range from 15° to 55°. The tilt angle of the TCR EC domain is both coupled to a rotation of the domain and to characteristic changes throughout the TCR – CD3 complex, in particular in the EC interactions of the Cβ FG loop of the TCR, as well as in the orientation of transmembrane helices. The concerted motions of the membrane-embedded TCR – CD3 complex revealed in our simulations provide atomistic insights for force-based models of TCR activation, which involve such structural changes in response to tilt-inducing forces on antigen-bound TCRs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
pp. 16-16
Author(s):  
Jason Devlin ◽  
Jesus Alonso ◽  
Grant Keller ◽  
Sara Bobisse ◽  
Alexandre Harari ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Neoantigen vaccine immunotherapies have shown promise in clinical trials, but identifying which peptides to include in a vaccine remains a challenge. We aim to establish that molecular structural features can help predict which neoantigens to target to achieve tumor regression. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Proteins were prepared by recombinant expression in E. coli followed by in vitro refolding. Correctly folded proteins were purified by chromatography. Affinities of protein-protein interactions were measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and thermal stabilities of proteins were determined by differential scanning fluorimetry. All experiments were performed at least in triplicate. Protein crystals were obtained by hanging drop vapor diffusion. The protein crystal structures were solved by molecular replacement and underwent several rounds of automated refinement. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed using the AMBER molecular dynamics package. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: A T cell receptor (TCR) expressed by tumor-infiltrating T cells exhibited a 20-fold stronger binding affinity to the neoantigen peptide compared to the self-peptide. X-ray crystal structures of the peptides with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) protein demonstrated that a non-mutated residue in the peptide samples different positions with the mutation. The difference in conformations of the non-mutated residue was supported by molecular dynamics simulations. Crystal structures of the TCR engaging both peptide/MHCs suggested that the conformation favored by the mutant peptide was crucial for TCR binding. The TCR bound the neoantigen/MHC with faster binding kinetics. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Our results suggest that the mutation impacts the conformation of another residue in the peptide, and this alteration allows for more favorable T cell receptor binding to the neoantigen. This highlights the potential of non-mutated residues in contributing to neoantigen recognition.


2015 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 558a-559a
Author(s):  
Antreas C. Kalli ◽  
Andre Cohnen ◽  
Oreste Acuto ◽  
Mark S.P. Sansom

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prithvi R Pandey ◽  
Bartosz Różycki ◽  
Reinhard Lipowsky ◽  
Thomas R Weikl

We investigate the structural and orientational variability of the membrane-embedded T cell receptor (TCR) - CD3 complex in extensive atomistic molecular dynamics simulations based on the recent cryo-EM structure determined by Dong et al. (2019). We find that the TCR extracellular (EC) domain is highly variable in its orientation by attaining tilt angles relative to the membrane normal that range from 15° to 55°. The tilt angle of the TCR EC domain is both coupled to a rotation of the domain and to characteristic changes throughout the TCR - CD3 complex, in particular in the EC interactions of the C_ FG loop of the TCR, as well as in the orientation of transmembrane helices. The concerted motions of the membrane-embedded TCR - CD3 complex revealed in our simulations provide atomistic insights on conformational changes of the complex in response to tilt-inducing forces on antigen-bound TCRs.


Author(s):  
Esther S. Brielle ◽  
Dina Schneidman-Duhovny ◽  
Michal Linial

AbstractThe COVID-19 disease has plagued over 110 countries and has resulted in over 4,000 deaths within 10 weeks. We compare the interaction between the human ACE2 receptor and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with that of other pathogenic coronaviruses using molecular dynamics simulations. SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and HCoV-NL63 recognize ACE2 as the natural receptor but present a distinct binding interface to ACE2 and a different network of residue-residue contacts. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have comparable binding affinities achieved by balancing energetics and dynamics. The SARS-CoV-2–ACE2 complex contains a higher number of contacts, a larger interface area, and decreased interface residue fluctuations relative to SARS-CoV. These findings expose an exceptional evolutionary exploration exerted by coronaviruses toward host recognition. We postulate that the versatility of cell receptor binding strategies has immediate implications on therapeutic strategies.One Sentence SummaryMolecular dynamics simulations reveal a temporal dimension of coronaviruses interactions with the host receptor.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugunadevi Sakkiah ◽  
Wenjing Guo ◽  
Bohu Pan ◽  
Zuowei Ji ◽  
Gokhan Yavas ◽  
...  

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of October 21, 2020, more than 41.4 million confirmed cases and 1.1 million deaths have been reported. Thus, it is immensely important to develop drugs and vaccines to combat COVID-19. The spike protein present on the outer surface of the virion plays a major role in viral infection by binding to receptor proteins present on the outer membrane of host cells, triggering membrane fusion and internalization, which enables release of viral ssRNA into the host cell. Understanding the interactions between the SARS-CoV-2 trimeric spike protein and its host cell receptor protein, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is important for developing drugs and vaccines to prevent and treat COVID-19. Several crystal structures of partial and mutant SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins have been reported; however, an atomistic structure of the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 trimeric spike protein complexed with ACE2 is not yet available. Therefore, in our study, homology modeling was used to build the trimeric form of the spike protein complexed with human ACE2, followed by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate interactions at the interface between the spike protein and ACE2. Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MMPBSA) and in silico alanine scanning were employed to characterize the interacting residues at the interface. Twenty interacting residues in the spike protein were identified that are likely to be responsible for tightly binding to ACE2, of which five residues (Val445, Thr478, Gly485, Phe490, and Ser494) were not reported in the crystal structure of the truncated spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) complexed with ACE2. These data indicate that the interactions between ACE2 and the tertiary structure of the full-length spike protein trimer are different from those between ACE2 and the truncated monomer of the spike protein RBD. These findings could facilitate the development of drugs and vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and combat COVID-19.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco De Simone ◽  
Grazisa Rossetti ◽  
Massimiliano Pagani

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