Hjelmström P, DeWeese-Scott C, Penzotti J E, Lybrand T P, Sanjeevi C B
Department of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
J Neuroimmunol. 1998 May 1;85(1):102-5. doi: 10.1016/s0165-5728(97)00266-x.
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is characterized by muscle weakness due to autoimmunity against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). MG is associated with polymorphisms in HLA-DQ genes and the aim of the present study was to characterize structural differences in the peptide binding groove of HLA-DQ molecules positively and negatively associated with MG. Three dimensional models of the positively associated DQ2 (DQB102) and negatively associated DQ6 (DQB10603) molecules were constructed by homology modeling techniques. The differences in peptide binding properties were primarily localized to peptide-anchor pockets P7 and P9, which might be of importance for the binding of disease-associated peptides from the nAChR.
重症肌无力（MG）的特征是由于针对烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体（nAChR）的自身免疫反应而导致肌肉无力。MG与HLA - DQ基因的多态性相关，本研究的目的是表征与MG呈正相关和负相关的HLA - DQ分子肽结合槽中的结构差异。通过同源建模技术构建了与MG呈正相关的DQ2（DQB1 * 02）和呈负相关的DQ6（DQB1 * 0603）分子的三维模型。肽结合特性的差异主要定位于肽锚定口袋P7和P9，这可能对于来自nAChR的疾病相关肽的结合很重要。
