The endosome-lysosome pathway and information generation in the immune system

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    129 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    For a long time the lysosomal pathway was thought to be exclusively one for catabolism and recycling of material taken up by endocytosis from the external milieu or from the cytosol by autophagy. At least in the immune system it is clear now that endo/lysosomal proteolysis generates crucially important information, in particular peptides that bind class II MHC molecules to create ligands for survey by the diverse antigen receptors of the T lymphocyte system. This process of antigen processing and presentation is used to display not only foreign but also self peptides and therefore is important for 'self' tolerance as well as immunity to pathogens. Some cells, macrophages and particularly dendritic cells can load peptides on class I MHC molecules in the endosome system through the important, though still not fully characterised, pathway of cross-presentation. Here I try to provide a brief review of how this area developed focussing to some extent our own contributions to understanding the class II MHC pathway. I also mention briefly recent work of others showing that proteolysis along this pathway turns out to regulate immune signalling events in the innate immune system such as the activation of some members of the Toll-like receptor family. Finally, our recent work on the endo/lysosome targeted protease inhibitor cystatin F, suggests that auto-regulation of protease activity in some immune cells occurs. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Proteolysis 50 years after the discovery of lysosome. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)14-21
    Number of pages8
    JournalBBA - Proteins and Proteomics
    Volume1824
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2012

    Keywords

    • Endosome-lysosome pathway
    • MHC CLASS-II
    • B-LYMPHOBLASTOID-CELLS
    • PEPTIDE-LOADING COMPARTMENTS
    • ANTIGEN-PRESENTING CELLS
    • HLA-DR MOLECULES
    • GILT-FREE MICE
    • CROSS-PRESENTATION
    • CYSTATIN-F
    • INVARIANT CHAIN
    • ASPARAGINYL ENDOPEPTIDASE

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The endosome-lysosome pathway and information generation in the immune system'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this