Proximity ligation assay demonstrated DQ and CD74 as a dimer on the cell surface of mice. (a) The slides were visualized by confocal microscopy, blue depicts nuclei staining using DAPI and red is the probe for the proteins; both pictures were merged in the lower left side for each strain. The picture is representative of three experiments, magnification 60×. Arrow points to the cells positive for the CD74/DQA1 heterodimer in each strain. (b) Quantitative analysis of mean fluorescence intensity of the dimers shown in (a). *P < 0·001 DQ8 versus DQ6.1, #DQA1*0103 versus DQ8, P < 0·0006 and **DQA1*0103 versus DQ6.1, P < 2·6E‐05.