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Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules bind short peptides derived from endogenous or exogenous antigens and present them onto the surface of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) for T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition. The MHC-binding peptides that can trigger immune response are termed as T-cell epitopes, which are usually vital elements for epitope-based vaccine design. However, human MHC genes (human leucocyte antigens, HLAs) exhibit a high frequency of polymorphisms. So, promiscuous T cell epitopes that can be presented by multiple HLA molecules have great potential in the development of vaccines with wide population coverage. These promiscuous peptides in the context of HLA supertypes are defined as HLA supertype-specific epitopes.
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