Abstract
The central unit for regulation of the specific immune system is a trimolecular complex made up of the T cell antigen receptor, the MHC molecule, and the MHC ligand. The third component is a peptide derived as a degradation product from a protein. During recent years there has been some progress in understanding the interaction between MHC molecules and their peptide ligands: MHC molecules are peptide receptors of peculiar specificity, being able to accommodate millions of different peptides provided they share some common features.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Review
MeSH terms
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Alleles
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Antigen-Presenting Cells / immunology
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Antigen-Presenting Cells / metabolism
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Binding Sites
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Biological Transport
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Epitopes / immunology*
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Epitopes / metabolism
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Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / metabolism*
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Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / metabolism*
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Humans
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Models, Biological
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Peptide Fragments / immunology*
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Peptide Fragments / metabolism
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Protein Binding
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beta 2-Microglobulin / metabolism
Substances
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Epitopes
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Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
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Histocompatibility Antigens Class II
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Peptide Fragments
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beta 2-Microglobulin