Fremont, DH, Matsumura, M, Stura, EA, Peterson, PA, and Wilson, IA. Crystal structures of two viral peptides in complex with murine class I H-2Kb. Science1992. 257:919-927
MHC stands for Major Histacompatability Complex, which is the structure responsible for alerting the immune system to the presence of non-self (foreign) proteins in the cells. It is composed of three different polypeptides which work together to bind to specific sites on foreign peptides and then present them on the outer surface of the cell for recognition by T-cells.
Once T-cells have learned to recognize such cells they will lyse any and all cells presenting this mutated peptide sequence. In this manner the immune system can be conditioned to respond to cancerous "self" cells within the body which they would not otherwise recognize as hazardous.
