Presentation of antigenic peptides in complex with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules to T cell lymphocytes receptors (TcR) controls the onset of cellular immune reaction in most higher vertebrates . The most selective step in the presentation of antigenic peptides to TcR is the binding of the peptide to the MHC molecule . The human MHC genomic region (called HLA) is the most polymorphic of the human proteins hosting more than 3000 allelic variants . Each MHC molecule potentially presents a distinct set of antigenic peptides to the immune system, making rational epitope discovery a daunting task. However, many MHC alleles share a large fraction of their peptide-binding repertoire, and it is often possible to find promiscuous peptides, which bind to a number of different alleles . Knowledge of the MHC binding motif can thus allow for reduction in task of performing rational epitopes discovery, since such knowledge allow for identification of MHC alleles with similar binding specificity.

CITATIONS

For publication of results, please cite:

MHCmotif viewer.
Rapin, N., Hoof, I., Lund, O., Nielsen, M.
Immunogenetics: 2008.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00251-008-0330-2

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