MAJOR

HISTOCOMPATIBILITY
COMPLEX

CLASS 1 AND CLASS 2 MHC MOLECULE

INTRODUCTION

MHC (Major histocompatibility complex)is the membrane bound protein which plays
important roles in:
• Discrimination between self and non-self body.
• Representation of processed antigen on the cell surface.
MHC Gene can classified into three classes:
• MHC Class-1
• MHC Class-2
• MHC Class-3
MHC CLASS-1:STRUCTURE:

1.MHC CLASS -1 GENE ENCODES GLYCOPROTEINS EXPRESSED

ON SURFACE OF ALL THE NUCLEATED CELLS.

2.THE GENE PRODUCT OF MHC CLASS-1 GENE IS THE PRESENTATION

OF PEPTIDE ANTIGEN TO T-CYTOTOXIC CELLS.

3. MHC CLASS-1 MOLECULE IS A MEMBRANE BOUND GLYCO PROTEINS

WHICH CONTAINS 45KD ALPHA CHAIN NON-COVALENTLY
ATTACHED TO BETA-2 MICRO GLOBULIN.

4. ORGANISED INTO 3 EXTERNAL DOMAINS, ALPHA-1,ALPHA-2 AND

ALPHA-3.,EACH CONTAINING 90 AMINO ACIDS.

5. BETA-2 MICRO GLOBULIN HAS SAME SIZE, ATTACHED TO ALPHA-3 DOMAIN.

6. ALPHAJ1 AND ALPHA-2 DOMAINS FORM A DEEP GROOVE, NAMED AS ‘PEPTIDE BINDING
CLEFT’ WHICH BINDS THE PEPTIDES OF 8-10 AMINO ACIDS.
MHC CLASS-1 :PEPTIDE INTERACTION