JAC Advance Access originally published online on December 4, 2003
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Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2004) 53, 1-3
© 2004 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
Leading Article |
All for CD91 and CD91 for all
1 Department of Immunology, Division of Investigative Science, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 369 Fulham Road, London SW10 9NH, UK; 2 Department of Oncology, Velindre Hospital, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Heat shock proteins interact with antigen-presenting cells through their receptor, CD91, eliciting a cascade of events including maturation, activation and representation of chaperoned foreign peptides with class I molecules on their surface. In turn, this facilitates recognition of non-self leading to induction of a cytotoxic T cell response. The abundance of heat shock proteins in tumours and their presence in virion coats makes them attractive propositions for use in antitumour and antiviral strategies.
Keywords: heat shock proteins, HIV, cancer, receptors
* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-208-746-8251; Fax: +44-208-746-5997; E-mail: j.stebbing{at}imperial.ac.uk