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* Institut Curie, Section de Recherche Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale CJF-95.01 and Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 144, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France; and Major histocompatibility complex class II
molecules are synthesized as a nonameric complex consisting of three
Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School
of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

dimers associated with a trimer of invariant (Ii) chains. After exiting the TGN, a targeting
signal in the Ii chain cytoplasmic domain directs the
complex to endosomes where Ii chain is proteolytically
processed and removed, allowing class II molecules to
bind antigenic peptides before reaching the cell surface.
Ii chain dissociation and peptide binding are thought to
occur in one or more postendosomal sites related either
to endosomes (designated CIIV) or to lysosomes (designated MIIC). We now find that in addition to initially
targeting 
dimers to endosomes, Ii chain regulates
the subsequent transport of class II molecules. Under
normal conditions, murine A20 B cells transport all of
their newly synthesized class II I-Ab 
dimers to the
plasma membrane with little if any reaching lysosomal
compartments. Inhibition of Ii processing by the cysteine/serine protease inhibitor leupeptin, however,
blocked transport to the cell surface and caused a dramatic but selective accumulation of I-Ab class II molecules in lysosomes. In leupeptin, I-Ab dimers formed
stable complexes with a 10-kD NH2-terminal Ii chain fragment (Ii-p10), normally a transient intermediate in
Ii chain processing. Upon removal of leupeptin, Ii-p10
was degraded and released, I-Ab dimers bound antigenic peptides, and the peptide-loaded dimers were
transported slowly from lysosomes to the plasma membrane. Our results suggest that alterations in the rate or
efficiency of Ii chain processing can alter the postendosomal sorting of class II molecules, resulting in the increased accumulation of 
dimers in lysosome-like
MIIC. Thus, simple differences in Ii chain processing
may account for the highly variable amounts of class II
found in lysosomal compartments of different cell types or at different developmental stages.
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