The extended family of major histocom- patibility complex (MHC) class I-re- lated proteins serves a variety of immu- nological functions, among which those of the polymorphic MHC class I molecules are paramount. These heterodimers of a membrane-anchored HLA-A, -B, or -C chain and soluble β_2-microglobulin (β_2m) present intracellularly processed peptides to circulating CD8~+ T cells with αβT cell antigen receptors (TCRs), which are thus enabled to detect and destroy pathogen- infected cells (1,2).
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