Harvard College

Lawrence J Stern

Jack L Strominger

Mary Lynne Hedley

Roman M Chicz

Robert Glen Urban

Dario A A Vignali

Dario A Vignali

A purified preparation of a peptide consisting essentially of an amino acid sequence identical to that of a segment of a naturally-occurring human protein, said segment being of 10 to 30 residues in length, inclusive, wherein said peptide binds to a human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II allotype.

Immunomodulatory peptides

The invention features an isolated sample of mammalian class II major histocompatibility heterodimers which are membrane-associated or in soluble form, and which are capable of binding added antigenic peptide; methods for producing large amounts of the soluble or membrane-associated histocompatibility protein by expression of DNA encoding the .alpha. and .beta. polypeptides; and methods for loading these heterodimers with any desired antigen.

Empty major histocompatibility class II heterodimers

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Arlington, MA, United States of America

Lawrence J Stern