MHC restriction occurs during lymphocyte development in the thymus through a process known as positive selection.

MHC restriction is particularly important when primary lymphocytes are developing and differentiating in the thymus or bone marrow.

T cells require presentation via MHC molecules to recognize foreign antigens - a requirement known as MHC restriction.

That observation, called MHC restriction, led to a conundrum; namely, that the ability of a T cell to recognize foreign antigen also required that it recognize "self."

MHC-restricted antigen recognition, or MHC restriction, refers to the fact that a given T cell will recognize a peptide antigen only when it is bound to a host body's own MHC molecule.

In 1996, Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, for their work with LCMV which led to a fundamental understanding of the adaptive immune response, MHC restriction.

Conversely, it is thought that MHC Restriction plays a pivotal role in the antiretroviral therapy used to treat HIV/AIDS as it can increase the CD4 cell count thus increasing the likelihood for an immune response to be prompted.