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The article shows that activated dendritic cells fail to cross-prime CD8+ T cell responses. Viruses that infect professional antigen-presenting cells may have contributed to the evolution of cross-priming. Cross-priming of CD8+ T cells involves three specialized features of dendritic cells. In vitro activation of dendritic cells results in inhibition of cross-priming.

The article presents information on hereditary hemochromatosis, a disease resulting from iron overload, is the most common genetic disorder in the United States, afflicting more than a million Americans. Untreated, HH frequently leads to a middle-aged demise due to the failure of an iron-damaged liver, heart, or pancreas. HH was one of the first diseases linked to the major histocompatibility complex. HH results from misfolding of HFE induced by a point mutation that replaces the normal cysteine residue at position 282 with a tyrosine.