The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of immunity genes has been reported to influence mate choice in vertebrates, and a recent study presented genetic evidence for this effect in humans. Specifically, greater dissimilarity at the MHC locus was reported for European-American mates (parents in HapMap Phase 2 trios) than for non-mates. Here we show that the results depend on a few extreme da...

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 254 Class 1 MHC Polypeptides ...................................................................... 256 THE STRUCTURE OF HLA-A2 .................................................................. 257 Structural Overview .............................................................................. ...

Superantigens (SAGs) activate T cells by simultaneously binding the Vbeta domain of the TCR and MHC class II molecules on antigen-presenting cells. The preferential expression of certain Valpha regions among SAG-reactive T cells has suggested that the TCR alpha chain may modulate the level of activation through an interaction with MHC. We demonstrate that the TCR alpha chain is required for max...

Dendritic cells induce the activation of CD8 and CD4 T cells by presenting antigenic peptides on MHC class I and class II molecules, respectively. In a recent Science paper, Dudziak et al. (2007) reveal that these tasks are handled by distinct populations of dendritic cells in vivo.