minor histocompatibility antigen

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Function

immunogenic peptide which, when complexed with MHC antigens, can generate an immune response after recognition by specific T-cells
the peptides are derived from polymorphic intracellular proteins, which are cleaved by normal pathways of antigen processing
the binding of these peptides to MHC class 1 or MHC class 2 molecules & expression on the cell surface can stimulate T-cell responses & thus trigger graft rejection or graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from an HLA-identical sibling donor