Recombinant Self-Replicating RNA Vaccines

During a viral infection, cytosolic viral antigens are proteolytically degraded into peptides which are translocated into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where they associate with class I molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and are then transported to the cell surface for recognition by CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Extra-cellular antigens such as virus particles or soluble protein subunits are degraded into peptides within the endosomal compartment of the cell. Here they are loaded onto MHC class II molecules for presentation to the CD4+ T helper cells (reviewed in Cresswell, 1994; Germain and Margulies, 1993; Jackson and Peterson, 1993; Rammensee et al, 1993). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.