MHC molecules lead many lives

The EMBO Molecular Medicine Workshop on MHC Class I Molecules at the interface between Biology & Medicine took place between 4 and 6 July 2008, in Porto, Portugal, and was organized by F. Arosa, S. Powis and G. Vamosi.![][1] See Glossary for abbreviations used in this articleThe states, partners and functions of MHC class I molecules were the subject of this European Molecular Biology Organization Molecular Medicine workshop. The organizers built on their experience with unexpected forms and associations of MHC class I molecules to put together a meeting that showed how much more there is to these molecules than their classical function of simply presenting peptides for recognition by T‐cell receptors.The abstract book of the meeting began with a historical perspective on the non‐classical functions of MHC class I molecules and quoted several speculative comments, including a notable one made by Susumo Ohno: “It may be that many of the plasma membrane proteins concerned with organogenesis, growth and differentiation are indeed in association with class I MHC molecules”; the work leading up to this hypothesis is reviewed in Ohno (1977). This speculation and others along similar lines drove research in the 1970s and 1980s to associate MHC class I molecules—which could be detected using antibodies—with growth‐hormone receptors (Edidin, 1988). This area of research dwindled after antigen presentation—an important MHC class I function—was defined by the work of Doherty & Zinkernagel (1975), and the MHC class I structure was solved (Bjorkman et al , 1987). The work on MHC class I molecules then focused on the peptide‐binding groove, and the presenting surface formed by the peptide and helices of the groove, which yielded spectacular insights into this important function of MHC class I molecules. Consequently, the study of their lateral interactions in the plane of the plasma … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif