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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Immunopeptidomics: Isolation of Mouse and Human MHC Class I- and II-Associated Peptides for Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: October 15, 2021
Odortypes and MHC peptides: Complementary chemosignals of MHC haplotype?
Diego Restrepo1, Weihong Lin, Ernesto Salcedo
1Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center, Neuroscience Program and Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. diego.restrepo@uchsc.edu
Abstract:
The olfactory and immune systems must perform optimally in the task of recognizing thousands of molecules to ensure survival. A particularly intriguing link between these systems is that animals can smell differences in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a cluster of highly polymorphic genes found on human chromosome 6 and mouse chromosome 17. Two different sets of compounds found in urine have been postulated to convey information on MHC haplotype: volatile compounds (odortypes) and MHC peptides. Here we argue for complementary roles for these chemosignals.
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