MHC-I recognition by receptors on myelomonocytic cells: New tricks for old dogs?

✍ Scribed by Tim Raine; Rachel Allen

• Book ID: 101707791
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 237 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.20215

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Receptors on cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells play well‐established roles in the immunological response and share a common ligand in the form of MHC‐I. We discuss how a variety of MHC‐I receptors are also expressed on myelomonocytic cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells. Since myelomonocytic MHC‐I receptors recognise a broad range of alleles and MHC‐I structures, we propose that their task is to discern expression levels and folding forms of MHC. We describe a model in which these recognition events would regulate bidirectional cross talk between cells of innate and adaptive immune systems to organise an ongoing combined immune response. We discuss how such a model is supported by recent literature and might function in a variety of contexts, including immunoregulation during pregnancy. Our model also offers an alternative explanation of immune dysregulation rather than autoimmunity during HLA‐B27‐associated spondyloarthropathies and addresses a number of conundrums in this field. BioEssays 27: 542–550, 2005. © 2005 Wiley periodicals, Inc.