Jones E Yvonne, Fugger Lars, Strominger Jack L, Siebold Christian
Division of Structural Biology, The Henry Wellcome Building for Genomic Medicine, The University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.
Nat Rev Immunol. 2006 Apr;6(4):271-82. doi: 10.1038/nri1805.
MHC class II molecules on the surface of antigen-presenting cells display a range of peptides for recognition by the T-cell receptors of CD4+ T helper cells. Therefore, MHC class II molecules are central to effective adaptive immune responses, but conversely, genetic and epidemiological data have implicated these molecules in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Indeed, the strength of the associations between particular MHC class II alleles and disease render them the main genetic risk factors for autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes. Here, we discuss the insights that the crystal structures of MHC class II molecules provide into the molecular mechanisms by which sequence polymorphisms might contribute to disease susceptibility.
抗原呈递细胞表面的MHC II类分子展示一系列肽段，以供CD4 +辅助性T细胞的T细胞受体识别。因此，MHC II类分子对于有效的适应性免疫反应至关重要，但相反，遗传学和流行病学数据表明这些分子与自身免疫性疾病的发病机制有关。事实上，特定MHC II类等位基因与疾病之间关联的强度使它们成为1型糖尿病等自身免疫性疾病的主要遗传风险因素。在这里，我们讨论MHC II类分子的晶体结构所提供的见解，即序列多态性可能导致疾病易感性的分子机制。
