Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein regulates endogenous and exogenous antigen presentation by group 1 CD1 molecules

Background: Lipid antigens are presented to T cells by the non-polymorphic MHC class I-related CD1 molecules and play an important role in a variety of diseases. This laboratory recently reported that microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), which has until then been known for lipidating apolipoproteins B48 and B100 and generating chylomicrons and VLDL particles, regulates CD1d function and hence natural killer T (NKT) cell biology. While CD1d is expressed in humans and rodents, the type I CD1 genes CD1a, CD1b, and CD1c are only present in humans but not rodents and therefore not accessible for study in m…