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rhowsnc t1_iwk179s wrote

Reply to comment by iayork in Why do T cells need to bind self-antigen moderately? by itsabenhere

immunology professor boyfriend: “and if high affinity binding occurs in this scenario you’d develop an autoimmune disease.”

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iayork t1_iwkrllh wrote

Depends what he’s calling “this scenario”. OP is specifically asking about developing T cells in the thymus. Those do occasionally bind with high affinity to the MHC/self peptide combination in the thymus, and those T cells are destroyed - it’s a normal part of T cell development, aimed at preventing autoimmunity (because if those T cells were allowed to survive and become mature, functional T cells, they could indeed cause autoimmunity - though there are further checks and balances even there).

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