Molecular Studies of Antigen Processing and Presentation to T Cells by Class II MHC Molecules
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
In contrast to antibodies, which generally recognize native protein antigens free in solution, T cells require a much more complex mechanism for antigen recognition. In general, antigen receptors on both helper and cytotoxic T cells bind to antigen only on the surface of another cell (Unanue 1984; Unanue and Allen 1987), usually after some type of metabolic processing, resulting in fragmentation and/or unfolding of the native structure (Shimonkevitz et al. 1983; Allen and Unanue 1984; Streicher et al. 1984; Berzofsky et al. 1988), and then only when the resultant processed antigen is associated with a cell-surface molecule encoded by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of the target or antigen-presenting cell (APC) (Benacerraf 1978; Rosenthal 1978). Although processing has long been thought to involve proteolysis, the details of the chemistry and intracellular pathways involved are still not fully resolved. In the case of antigen seen with class II MHC molecules, inhibitors...
