12890 IUPAC Gold Book - antigen processing 10.1351/goldbook.12890 12890 current 1 Cleavage of protein antigens in antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The immunogenic peptides interact with the binding sites of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II products (exogenous antigens) or with those in MHC class I products (endogenous antigens, including viruses). The processed antigen-MHC complex is recognized by the antigen receptor complex of T lymphocytes. MHC class I https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13431 T lymphocytes https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13724 antigen presentation https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12887 antigen receptor https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12891 antigen-presenting cells (APCs) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12888 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13432 PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1125 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12890/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12890/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12890/plain Citation: 'antigen processing' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12890 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-05-10T20:00:48+00:00