Quantitating Presentation of MHC Class I-Restricted Antigens

CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (T_CD8+ ) 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 T_CD8+ responses can be manipulated to treat neoplasms. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules display endogenously processed antigenic (Ag) peptides to T_CD8+ . This shapes the developing T_CD8+ repertoire in the thymus and enables the delivery of immune effector molecules to antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the periphery.