T-cell-antigen recognition and the immunological synapse.

Much excitement of the past five years in the area of T-cell-antigen recognition has centred around the immunological synapse - a complex cellular structure that forms at the interface of a T cell and a cell that expresses the appropriate peptide-MHC complexes. Thanks to new imaging technologies, we are now beginning to understand the role of cell-surface molecules and some of their attendant signalling modules in the context of cell-to-cell communication. Progress has been so rapid that T-cell-antigen recognition might be the first system in which the molecular basis of cell-cell recognition is understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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