title: Thermodynamic characterization of dissociation rate variations of human leukocyte antigen and peptide complexes.
abstract: Stability of minor histocompatibility antigen-MHC molecule complexes is a major requirement for the successful presentation of the antigen to T cell receptors. In this letter we show thermodynamic features of the complexes made of a peptide antigen and its three variants to explain molecular basis of variable stability of the complexes. Our analysis suggests that enthalpy is a major factor in determining the stability of the complexes. We also found that the dissociation of the peptides from the complexes exhibits enthalpy-entropy compensation. Two structural features of the complexes, noncovalent chemical bondings and flexibility of the peptides in the complexes, are in a good agreement with our thermodynamic analysis. We expect thermodynamic investigation of peptide antigen-MHC protein complexes will provide valuable information on the stability.
authors: Jonghoon
authors: J
authors: Kang
authors: Jeremy D
authors: JD
authors: Auerbach
mesh_terms: D019277:Entropy; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D010455:Peptides