MHC class I molecules usually present peptides derived from endogenous antigens that are bound in the endoplasmic reticulum. Loading of exogenous antigens on class I molecules, e.g., in cross-priming, sometimes occurs, but the intracellular location where interaction between the antigenic fragment and class I takes place is unclear. Here we show that measles virus F protein can be presented by class I in transporters associated with antigen processing-independent, NH 4 Clsensitive manner, suggesting that class I molecules are able to interact and bind antigen in acidic compartments, like class II molecules. Studies on intracellular transport of green fluorescent protein-tagged class I molecules in living cells confirmed that a small fraction of class I molecules indeed enters classical MHC class II compartments (MIICs) and is transported in MIICs back to the plasma membrane. Fractionation studies show that class I complexes in MIICs contain peptides. The pH in MIIC (around 5.0) is such that efficient peptide exchange can occur. We thus present evidence for a pathway for class I loading that is shared with class II molecules.MHC molecules display antigenic peptides on the cell surface for surveillance by T lymphocytes. MHC class I molecules present peptides to CD8 ϩ cytotoxic T cells, whereas MHC class II molecules present peptides to CD4 ϩ Th cells. The current dogma is that antigens from the extracellular fluid enter the exogenous processing pathway by endocytosis and are partially degraded in acidic endosomal or lysosomal structures to yield peptides that bind MHC class II molecules. This type of processing is inhibited by reagents that prevent endosomal acidification (chloroquine, NH 4 Cl) (1). In the endogenous processing pathway intracellular proteins are degraded in the cytosol by the proteasome complex, generating peptides that are transported from the cytoplasm into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by the transporters associated with antigen processing (TAP), where they bind to nascent MHC class I heavy chain-␤ 2 -microglobulin (␤ 2 m) heterodimers. Fully assembled class I͞peptide complexes exit the ER and are transported through the Golgi to the cell surface by the constitutive secretory route. This processing pathway can be blocked by proteasome inhibitors or Brefeldin A (BFA), an inhibitor of anterograde ER-Golgi transport, but not by lysosomotropic agents. Thus, in general endogenous antigens are presented by MHC class I molecules, and exogenous antigens are displayed at the cell surface by MHC class II molecules. However accumulating evidence has shown that this dichotomy in presentation of antigen from endogenous and exogenous origin is not absolute. It was demonstrated that cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses can be primed in vitro and in vivo with exogenous antigen (reviewed in refs. 2 and 3). At least two fundamentally different pathways for presentation of exogenous antigens by MHC class I molecules in vitro have been described: one involving access of exogenous antigen to...

Specific pathogen free (SPF) domestic cats were inoculated with tissue homogenate obtained from a Chinese leopard (Panthera pardusjaponensis) that had died in a North American zoo from a natural infection with canine distemper virus (CDV). The cats developed a transient cell-associated CDV viraemia along with pronounced lymphopenia but did not show any clinical symptoms. Plasma neutralizing-antibody titres against the homologous CDV (A92-27/4, isolated from the Chinese leopard) were consistently higher than against the CDV vaccine strain 'Bussell'. The Chinese leopard CDV isolate showed in vitro biological properties reminiscent of virulent, wild-type CDV strains. Sequence analysis of the H gene of two large felid CDV isolates from the USA (A92-27/4 and A92-6) revealed up to 10 % amino acid changes including up to four additional potential N-linked glycosylation sites in the extracytoplasmic domain as compared to CDV vaccine strains. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the entire coding region of the H gene and a 388 bp fragment of the P gene of several morbillivirus species. Evidence was obtained that recent CDV isolates from different species in the United States (including isolates from large felids), Europe and Africa are significantly distinct from CDV vaccine strains. All wild-type CDV isolates analysed clustered according to geographical distribution rather than to host species origin. By sequence analysis a CDV epizootic among large felids in a Californian safari park was linked to a virus which most likely originated from feral non-felid carnivores.

An unusual monoclonal antibody (MARB4) directed against HLA-B27 that reacts with only

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