Li Ling, Dong Mei, Wang Xiao-Guang
Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora 80045, Colorado, USA.
Chin Med J (Engl). 2016 Feb 20;129(4):448-55. doi: 10.4103/0366-6999.176084.
This review focuses on the current knowledge on the implication and significance of beta 2 microglobulin (β2M), a conservative immune molecule in vertebrate.
The data used in this review were obtained from PubMed up to October 2015. Terms of β2M, immune response, and infection were used in the search.
Articles related to β2M were retrieved and reviewed. Articles focusing on the characteristic and function of β2M were selected. The exclusion criteria of articles were that the studies on β2M-related molecules.
β2M is critical for the immune surveillance and modulation in vertebrate animals. The dysregulation of β2M is associated with multiple diseases, including endogenous and infectious diseases. β2M could directly participate in the development of cancer cells, and the level of β2M is deemed as a prognostic marker for several malignancies. It also involves in forming major histocompatibility complex (MHC class I or MHC I) or like heterodimers, covering from antigen presentation to immune homeostasis.
Based on the characteristic of β2M, it or its signaling pathway has been targeted as biomedical or therapeutic tools. Moreover, β2M is highly conserved among different species, and overall structures are virtually identical, implying the versatility of β2M on applications.
本综述聚焦于β2微球蛋白（β2M）这一脊椎动物保守免疫分子的作用及意义的现有知识。
本综述所使用的数据截至2015年10月从PubMed获取。搜索时使用了β2M、免疫反应和感染等术语。
检索并审阅了与β2M相关的文章。选取了关注β2M特性和功能的文章。文章的排除标准是关于β2M相关分子的研究。
β2M对脊椎动物的免疫监视和调节至关重要。β2M的失调与多种疾病相关，包括内源性疾病和感染性疾病。β2M可直接参与癌细胞的发展，其水平被视为多种恶性肿瘤的预后标志物。它还参与形成主要组织相容性复合体（MHC I类或MHC I）或类似的异二聚体，涵盖从抗原呈递到免疫稳态的过程。
基于β2M的特性，它或其信号通路已被作为生物医学或治疗工具的靶点。此外，β2M在不同物种间高度保守，整体结构几乎相同，这意味着β2M在应用方面具有多功能性。
