Antigen presentation in vertebrates: Structural and functional aspects

Antigen presentation is a key process of the immune system and is responsible for the activation of T cells. The main characters are the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) and class II (MHC-II) molecules, and accessory proteins that act as chaperones for these glycoproteins. Current kn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental and comparative immunology 2023-07, Vol.144, p.104702-104702, Article 104702
Main Authors: Wong-Benito, Valentina, de Rijke, Jill, Dixon, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antigen Presentation
Chaperone
Fishes
Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
Histocompatibility Antigens Class II - metabolism
Major histocompatibility complex
Molecular Chaperones
Structure
Vertebrates
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Summary:Antigen presentation is a key process of the immune system and is responsible for the activation of T cells. The main characters are the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) and class II (MHC-II) molecules, and accessory proteins that act as chaperones for these glycoproteins. Current knowledge of this process and also the elucidation of the structural features of these proteins, has been extensively reviewed in humans. Unfortunately, this is not the case for non-human species, wherein the function and structural characteristic of the antigen presentation proteins is far from being understood. The majority of previous studies in non-human species, especially in teleost fish and lower vertebrates, are limited to the transcriptomic level, which leads to gaps in the knowledge about the functional process of antigen presentation in these species. This review summarizes what is known so far about antigen presentation pathways in vertebrates from a structural and functional perspective. The focus is not only on the MHC receptors, but also, on the forgotten characters of these pathways such as the proteins of the peptide loading complex, and the MHC-II chaperone invariant chain. •Antigen processing and presentation is understudies in lower vertebrates.•Crystal structures can add critical information for understanding of function.•Chaperone molecule structure and presence can vary among vertebrate groups and species.
ISSN:0145-305X
1879-0089
DOI:10.1016/j.dci.2023.104702