Isolation and characterization of the intracellular MHC class II compartment

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 369; no. 6476; pp. 120 - 126
• Main Authors: Tulp, Abraham, Verwoerd, Desirée, Dobberstein, Bernhard, Ploegh, Hidde L, Pieters, Jean
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing 12-05-1994; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Antigens; Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Transport; Cell Compartmentation; Cell Fractionation; Cell Line; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Cellular biology; Electrophoresis - methods; Endocytosis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Histocompatibility antigens (hla, h-2 and other systems); Histocompatibility Antigens Class II - metabolism; Humans; Immunity (Disease); Lysosomes; Medical research; Molecular immunology; Molecules; Proteins - metabolism; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Human; Cell compartment; HLA-System; Intracellular transport; Cell line; Molecular processing; Major histocompatibility system; Class II histocompatibility antigen; Melanoma; Molecular interaction
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/369120a0

An intracellular compartment has been isolated to which MHC class II molecules are transported on their way to the plasma membrane. They arrive with an associated invariant chain which is then proteolytically processed while MHC class II molecules acquire antigenic peptide. These loaded class II molecules then leave the compartment devoid of invariant chain and bound for the plasma membrane. This compartment represents a new stage in the endocytic/lysosomal pathway.