insulin α-chain

Insulin β Chain Peptide (15-23), also referred to as INS, is an insulin-derived peptide that is specifically recognized by islet-associated T cells. The tetramer of Insulin β Chain Peptide (15-23) effectively stained the INS-reactive CTL clone G9C8; however, neither this tetramer nor the negative control tetramer (TUM) exhibited staining on the splenic CD8+ T cells obtained from NOD or 8.3-TCRαβ transgenic NOD mice.

This peptide is a fragment of the alpha-chain of insulin amino acids 1 to 13. The insulin a-chain epitope recognized by human T cells is posttranslationally modified.