Antigen processing and presentation involves two pathways: 1) Exogenous antigens are internalized, processed in the endosome, and presented on MHC class II to CD4+ T cells. 2) Endogenous antigens are processed by the proteasome in the cytosol, transported to the ER by TAP, loaded onto MHC class I, and presented to CD8+ T cells. For an immune response, antigen must be degraded into peptides and bound to MHC molecules on antigen presenting cells to activate T cells through TCR recognition and co-stimulation.