HLA-A*02:01 Polymerase (400-408) – Immunology – Antigens/Epitotes/Pools/Librairies

HLA-A*02 is a class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) allele which is part of the HLA-A group of human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) leukocyte antigens (HLA). HLA-A is a human MHC class I cell surface receptor and is involved in presenting short polypeptides to the immune system. These polypeptides are typically 7-11 amino acids in length and originate from proteins being expressed by the cell. Cytotoxic T cells in the blood « read » the peptide presented by the complex and should only bind to non-self peptides. If binding occurs, a series of events is initiated culminating in cell death via apoptosis. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase is a multifunctional enzyme that can use both RNA and DNA as a template for amplification and also has an RNase H function. First the polymerase acts on the HBV pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA) to reverse transcribe it to form the (-) DNA strand. Simultaneously the RNA template is degraded by the polymerases RNase H activity, except for a stretch of RNA at 5′ end of the pgRNA which is used to prime the synthesis of the (+) DNA strand. This process results in a new partially double-stranded relaxed circular DNA molecule (rcDNA) within a new capsid.