Quantitating Presentation of MHC Class I-Restricted Antigens

CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (TCD8+ ) play major roles in the acute response to intracellular pathogens and in maintaining the latent state in chronic virus infections. There is great hope that TCD8+ responses can be manipulated to treat neoplasms. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules display endogenously processed antigenic (Ag) peptides to TCD8+ . This shapes the developing TCD8+ repertoire in the thymus and enables the delivery of immune effector molecules to antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the periphery.