The human major histocompatibility complex includes a group of non-classical HLA class I genes, HLA-E, -F and -G. While nearly all focus since the discovery of these class Ib molecules have been on basic biochemistry and molecular biology of HLA-G and HLA-E, as well as their expression patterns, functions in immune modulation and during pregnancy, and also possible implications in a range of diseases, in infertility and pregnancy complications, HLA-F has nearly been ignored. However, recent discoveries show that HLA-F can be expressed as both open conformers binding to a number of KIRs on primarily NK cells, as well as peptide-bound HLA-F binding to ILT2 and ILT4. Furthermore, a number of reports indicate a possible involvement of HLA-F in viral infections, in cancer immunology, and in fertility and reproduction, which may initiate more interest in this rather unknown HLA class I molecule. In this short review, we focus on recent discoveries that indicate a functional role for HLA-F in reproduction and during pregnancy, and the role of HLA-F in relation to HLA-G.

中文翻译：

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HLA-F和HLA-G在生殖和妊娠中均起作用？

人类主要组织相容性复合体包括一组非经典的HLA I类基因，即HLA-E，-F和-G。自发现这些Ib类分子以来，几乎所有焦点都集中在HLA-G和HLA-E的基本生物化学和分子生物学上，以及它们的表达模式，在免疫调节和怀孕期间的功能，以及对在不育和妊娠并发症等多种疾病中，HLA-F几乎被忽略。但是，最近的发现表明，HLA-F既可以表达为与主要是NK细胞上的许多KIR结合的开放构象异构体，也可以表达为与ILT2和ILT4结合的肽结合HLA-F。此外，许多报告表明HLA-F可能与病毒感染，癌症免疫学以及生育和繁殖有关，这可能会引起人们对该未知的HLA I类分子的更多兴趣。在这篇简短的评论中，我们关注于最近的发现，这些发现表明了HLA-F在生殖和怀孕期间的功能作用，以及HLA-F与HLA-G的关系。