Editing T cell (section)

===Antigen discrimination===
A unique feature of T cells is their ability to discriminate between healthy and abnormal (e.g. infected or cancerous) cells in the body.<ref name="Feinerman_2008">{{cite journal|vauthors=Feinerman O, Germain RN, Altan-Bonnet G|title = Quantitative challenges in understanding ligand discrimination by alphabeta T cells|journal = Mol. Immunol.|volume = 45|issue = 3|pages = 619–31|year = 2008|pmid = 17825415|pmc = 2131735|doi = 10.1016/j.molimm.2007.03.028}}</ref> Healthy cells typically express a large number of self derived [[T-cell receptor#Antigen discrimination|pMHC]] on their cell surface and although the T cell antigen receptor can interact with at least a subset of these self pMHC, the T cell generally ignores these healthy cells. However, when these very same cells contain even minute quantities of pathogen derived pMHC, T cells are able to become activated and initiate immune responses. The ability of T cells to ignore healthy cells but respond when these same cells contain pathogen (or cancer) derived pMHC is known as antigen discrimination. The molecular mechanisms that underlie this process are controversial.<ref name="Feinerman_2008"/><ref name="pmid24636916">{{cite journal|vauthors=Dushek O, van der Merwe PA|title = An induced rebinding model of antigen discrimination|journal = Trends Immunol.|volume = 35|issue = 4|pages = 153–8|year = 2014|pmid = 24636916|pmc = 3989030|doi = 10.1016/j.it.2014.02.002}}</ref>