Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature 419, 443-445 (3 October 2002) | doi:10.1038/419443a
Immunology: Survival of the fitters
Hans-Georg Rammensee
Abstract
Our immune system's ability to fight viruses inside our cells relies on viral protein fragments being displayed on the cell surface. The enzyme needed for the last step in this presentation process has now been discovered.
Each cell in our body is covered with around 10,000 tiny protein fragments, representing almost every single protein being made in the cell. These fragments are peptides made up of exactly nine amino acids; they are glued to peptide receptors and convey information to the immune system about the interior of the cell.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).