HLA bind antigenic peptides

In 1987, Pamela Bjorkman, Jack Strominger and colleagues reported the three-dimensional structure of HLA-A2 by X-ray cristallography (Nature 329: 506, 1987; and 329:512, 1987). They demonstrated that polymorphic amino acid residues located in the floor or side chains of the peptide binding groove of HLA class I molecules bind antigenic peptides in specific residues, while other residues bind the T-cell receptor (TCR).