R. Glynne, S. H. Powis, S. Beck, A. Kelly, L-A. Kerr, J. Trowsdale, "A proteasome-related gene between the two ABC transporter loci in the class II region of the human MHC," Nature, 353:357-360, 1991.
Richard Glynne (Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, England): "The mechanism by which the body's immune system recognizes and kills virally infected cells but passes over healthy cells has intrigued immunologists for many years. An important breakthrough came when Alain Townsend at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford discovered that small fragments of viral proteins (peptides) are presented on the surface of infected cells (A.R.M. Townsend, et al., Cell, 42:457-67, 1985). This raised two questions: How are the viral proteins degraded to form the peptides, and how do the peptides make their way from the interior of the cell to the surface?
"A hint toward the answer to the second question came in the shape of two ...
