Technical Articles

Vaccine-encoded endogenous antigenic proteins undergo covalent ubiquitination in the cytosol, followed by proteasomal degradation into 8-12 amino acid antigenic peptides. These peptide fragments are selectively transported into the endoplasmic reticulum lumen via the Transporter associated with Antigen Processing (TAP), where they assemble with newly synthesized MHC class I molecules to form stable peptide-MHC-I complexes. This complex is subsequently trafficked through the Golgi apparatus to the cell membrane surface, enabling activation of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Upon recognition, these CTLs initiate specific cytotoxic immune responses to eliminate infected or tumor cells.