Probing T cell antigen recognition: use of synthetic peptides.

The availability and use of synthetic peptides have significantly enhanced our understanding of T cell recognition of antigen. This review is an attempt to chronicle applications of synthetic peptide technology to examine various aspects of T cell recognition. Specifically, a historical prospective of T cell antigen recognition precedes a description of the use of synthetic peptides to probe T cell recognition in the context of a trimolecular complex, in terms of regulatory and cytotoxic T cells, with respect to T cell tolerance and the concept of immunodominance, and its relevance to autoimmunity.