MHC restricted recognition of pathogenes
Foregin proteins
are digested by phagocytosis by Antigen Presenting Cells (APCs),
these may be the amoeba like leucocytes patrolling the lining of the gut or respratory
tract or B-cells that have bound some virus particle with their antibody receptors. The
proteins are digested and degraded into short peptides (10-15 amino acids long) and
a very small subset of these can be bound to the MHC
receptor molecule. These, so
called epitopes, will be presented on the cell surface and eventually be bound by
higly specific T-cell receptors
(TCRs), sitting on the surface of helper T-cells. In the
event of TCR/MHC binding the helper T-cell will release cytokines that are various
short range hormones that attract more immune system cells to the area and stimulate
them to grow and divide, thereby initiating an accelerating immunresponse.
Read more in
- Abbas, A.K., Lichtman, A.H. och Pober, J.S. 1991. Cellular and molecular immunology. W.B.
Saunders Company, PA., USA.
- Potts, W.K. och Wakeland, E.K. 1993. Evolution of MHC genetic diversity: a tale of incest,
pestilence, and sexual preference. Trends Genet. 9:408-412.
Back to the Pheasant Project