Thinking inside the box: endogenous α-anomeric lipid antigens

Jessica Kim; Ji Hyung Kim; Florian Winau

doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2014.09.020

Thinking inside the box: endogenous α-anomeric lipid antigens

Immunity. 2014 Oct 16;41(4):505-6. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2014.09.020.

Authors

Jessica Kim¹, Ji Hyung Kim¹, Florian Winau²

Affiliations

¹ Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
² Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: florian.winau@childrens.harvard.edu.

PMID: 25367563
DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2014.09.020

Abstract

The most powerful iNKT cell antigen is α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), derived from the marine sponge. However, α-anomeric glycolipids are thought to be absent in mammals. In this issue of Immunity, Kain et al., (2014) demonstrate the presence of mammalian α-linked glycosylceramides, such as α-GalCer.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
B-Lymphocytes / enzymology*
Glucosylceramides / biosynthesis*
Humans
Natural Killer T-Cells / immunology*
T-Lymphocytes / enzymology*

Substances

Glucosylceramides