major histocompatibility complex

American  

noun

Immunology.

1. MHC.

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major histocompatibility complex British  

noun

1. the full name for MHC

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major histocompatibility complex Scientific  

/ mā′jər /

1. A group of genes that code for cell-surface histocompatibility antigens and are the principal determinants of tissue type and transplant compatibility. They are the most diverse genes in humans and are used to determine if a sample of DNA comes from a specific person.

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Example Sentences

Researchers believe that a particular group of genes, the major histocompatibility complex, play a large role in scent production.

From Scientific American

Approximately 65% of elite controllers carry a particular variant of the human leukocyte antigen B gene, which is located in the major histocompatibility complex region, a part of our DNA that controls the adaptive immune response to pathogens and other threats.

From The Guardian

Doherty won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1996 with his Swiss colleague Rolf Zinkernagel for “their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell-mediated immune defence and the biological role of the major histocompatibility complex”.

From The Guardian

One possibility is to use gene editing to remove the markers on transplanted cells, called the major histocompatibility complex, that red-flag them for the host’s immune system.

From Nature

A common inhibitory receptor for major histocompatibility complex class I molecules on human lymphoid and myelomonocytic cells.

From Nature