Class I Quality

Our health relies on our immune system knowing the difference between what's us and what's foreign or abnormal. A protein that very much represents 'self' called MHC Class I on all but red cells is key to that process. This study shows that a previously uncharacterised protein called IRGQ is involved in 'quality control' of MHC class I molecules – directing them to degrade via a mechanism called autophagy if they're not up to scratch. It's also involved in enabling cancer to evade recognition by the immune system

Read the published research article here

Written by Lindsey Goff

Lindsey Goff

Editor-in-Chief

Formerly immunologist for Cancer Research UK, Lindsey has since moved into the field of scientific publishing. She looks after all BPoD editorial matters.

• Image from work by Lina Herhaus and Uxía Gestal-Mato, and colleagues
• Institute of Biochemistry II, Goethe University Frankfurt, Medical Faculty, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
• Published in Cell, October 2024