Disulphide bond-stabilized functional soluble MHC class II heterodimers

摘要

The present invention relates to disulphide bond stabilized recombinant MHC class II molecules. In particular, the present invention provides a recombinant MHC class II molecule, which comprises: (i) all or part of the extracellular portion of an MHC class IIαchain; (ii) all or part of the extracellular portion of an MHC class IIβchain; wherein (i) and (ii) provide a functional peptide binding domain and wherein (i) and (ii) are linked by a disulphide bond between cysteine residues located in theα2 domain of saidαchain and theβ2 domain of saidβchain, wherein said cysteine residues are not present in native MHC class IIα2 andβ2 domains. Methods of producing these molecules in prokaryotic systems and various uses of these molecules form further aspects.