Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The MHC is the most important susceptibility locus for human autoimmune diseases (AID). Although associations between MHC class II DRB1 alleles and Addison disease (AD) have been repeteadly proven in various populations, the biological mechanisms underlying this association remains unknown. Peptide presentation to T cells may be important in the initiation or progression of AID. Disease-linked polymorphisms map to the peptide-binding sites of MHC molecules class II...