Proteasomes are multisubunit proteolytic complexes that degrade cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins in eukaryotes. Proteasome-dependent proteolysis contributes to various cellular processes, including misfolded protein degradation, signal transduction, and antigen presentation.
The thymoproteasome is a form of proteasome that contains the vertebrate-specific catalytic subunit β5t specifically expressed by cortical epithelial cells in the thymus.
The thymoproteasome is essential for the positive selection of CD8+ T cells that carry an immunocompetent repertoire of antigen recognition specificity.
Here we summarize the structure and expression of the thymoproteasome and discuss how it regulates the positive selection of CD8+ T cells.
2012-02-20
Eng.
Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan. takahama [at] genome.tokushima-u.ac.jp
Curr Opin Immunol. 2012 Feb;24(1):92-8
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