The intracellular traffic of immunologically active molecules

An immune response is the result of a series of molecular and cellular interactions. The molecules involved include secreted proteins such as lymphokines and immunoglobulins and cell surface proteins such as histocompatibility antigens, Fc and lymphokine receptors and the T-cell receptor. Molecular immunologists initially focused on the structure and function of these molecules in extracellular space or on the cell surface but the control of their expression at the chromosomal level is now being studied. These investigations still leave an enormous gap in understanding the life-cycle and behavior of immunological molecules - a gap, literally, extending from the nuclear membrane to the plasma membrane. In this article Frances Brodsky discusses recent studies on molecular events in this region of the cell.