New reservoirs of HLA alleles: pools of rare variants enhance immune defense.

Abstract excerpt

Highly polymorphic exons of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC, or HLA in humans) encode critical amino acids that bind foreign peptides. Recognition of the peptide-MHC complexes by T cells initiates the adaptive immune response. The particular structure of these exons facilitates gene conversion(GC) events, leading to the generation of new alleles. Estimates for allele creation and loss indicate that more...

Topics

Share this publication in a Topic to start or enrich a Post.

• Share to Alleles
• Share to HLA Antigens
• Share to Mutation