Antigen presentation. Chewing the fat.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Parham.
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Natural killer (NK) cells kill normal and transformed hematopoietic cells that lack expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigens. Lysis of HLA-negative Epstein Barr virus-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCL) by human NK cell clones can be inhibited by transfection of the target cells with certain HLA-A, -B, or -C alleles. NK cell clones established from an individual demonstrate clonal heterogeneity in HLA recognition and a single NK clone can recognize multiple alleles. We describe a potential human NK cell receptor (NKB1) for certain HLA-B alleles (e.g., HLA-B*5101 and-B*5801) identified by the mAb DX9. NKB1 is a 70-kD glycoprotein that is expressed on a subset of NK cells and NK cell clones. DX9 monoclonal antibody (mAb) specifically inhibits the interaction between NK cell clones and B-LCL targets transfected with certain HLA-B alleles, but does not affect recognition of HLA-A or HLA-C antigens. An individual NK cell clone can independently recognize B-LCL targets transfected with HLA-B or HLA-C antigens; however, DX9 mAb only affects interaction with transfectants expressing certain HLA-B alleles. These findings demonstrate the existence of NK cell receptors involved in the recognition of HLA-B and imply the presence of multiple receptors for MHC on an individual NK clone.
CD4 and CD8 are cell surface glycoproteins that serve as co-receptors for Ag with the TCR. Recent studies have shown that both CD4 and CD8 interact with conserved regions of MHC class II and class I, respectively. To investigate further the roles of CD4 and CD8 in the immune response, we prepared synthetic peptides corresponding to the HLA sequences with which CD4 and CD8 are thought to interact. The peptide corresponding to residues 222 to 235 of the HLA class I heavy chain blocked the differentiation of human CTL precursors into active effect cells but affected neither the ability of PBLs to proliferate in response to mitogen nor the cytotoxic activity of established CTLs. In contrast, the peptide corresponding to residues 134 to 152 of the HLA-DR beta-chain inhibited the differentiation of CTL precursors, the proliferative response of freshly isolated PBL, and the proliferation of an established alloreactive CD4+ T cell clone to Ag. The inhibitory effect of the DR.134-152 peptide on CTL differentiation could be overcome by addition of exogenous IL-2 to the limiting dilution cultures, whereas the effect of the HLA-1.222-235 peptide was unaffected by exogenous IL-2. These results directly demonstrate a functional role for these regions of MHC molecules and underscore the central role of both CD4 and CD8 in the effective initiation of a CTL response.
T cells can be selected positively or negatively by the same peptide under different conditions. The type of selection depends on the avidity of the interaction between the T cell and the antigen-presenting cell.
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Two human clathrin light-chain genes have been defined. The gene (CLTA) encoding the LCa light chain maps to the long arm of chromosome 12 at 12q23-q24 and that encoding the LCb light chain (CLTB) maps to the long arm of chromosome 4 at 4q2-q3. Isolation and characterization of partial genomic clones encoding human LCa and LCb reveal the neuron-specific insertions of the LCa and LCb proteins to be encoded by discrete exons, thus proving that clathrin light chains undergo alternate mRNA splicing to generate tissue-specific protein isoforms. The insertion sequence of LCb is encoded by a single exon and that of LCa by two exons. The first of the two neuron-specific LCa exons is homologous to the corresponding LCb exon. An intronic sequence of the LCb gene with similarity to the second neuron-specific exon of the LCa gene has been identified.
Class I major histocompatibility complex molecules are components of the vertebrate immune system. Polymorphic classical class I molecules determine the specificity of cytolytic T cell and natural killer cell responses and are found in all species. During the timeframe of mammalian evolution, the lifetimes of a functional class I locus are short and those of individual alleles even shorter. In this seminar the role of heterozygote advantage frequency-dependent selection, disease-specific selection and drift in driving this rapid evolution is discussed. The other, non-classical genes, perform other functions within the immune system. They are of more recent invention than the classical class I genes and appear to have evolved from classical class I alleles.
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HLA-B67 is an uncommon antigen that has been defined by serological crossreactivity with the HLA-B7 and HLA-B16 (B38 and B39) antigens. It is found at highest frequency in certain Oriental populations and has been best defined in the Japanese. Nucleotide sequencing of cDNA encoding B67 reveals the B*6701 allele to be a subtype of B39 which differs from B*39011 by substitution at residues 67-71 of the alpha 1 helix. In the region of difference B*6701 is identical in sequence to B7, B22, B27 and related molecules that express the epitope recognized by the ME1 monoclonal antibody. That the HLA-B67 molecule binds strongly to the ME1 antibody was demonstrated by immunoprecipitation and cell surface binding assays. Identical B*6701 nucleotide sequences were obtained for the B67 alleles isolated from 2 unrelated Japanese and 1 North American caucasoid.
HLA-B15 embraces a multiplicity of antigenic specificities which vary in their distribution amongst human populations. To correlate B15 molecular structure with the serological picture we have sequenced alleles encoding the various subspecificities of the B15 antigen: B62, B63, B75, B76 and B77, and a number of "variants" of these antigens including the 8w66 split of B63. HLA-B63 (B*1517) and 8w66 (B*1516) heavy chains have sequence identity to B17 in the alpha 1 helix correlating with the antigenic crossreactivity of these molecules. HLA-B77(B*1513) and B75 (B*1502) heavy chains differ solely in segments determining the Bw4 and Bw6 public epitopes, consistent with the serological description of the B77 and B75 antigens. One allele encoding the B76 antigen (B*1512) appears to be the product of gene conversion between the HLA-A and -B loci and differs from B*1501 in codons 166 and 167. In contrast, a second allele encoding the B76 antigen (B*1514) differs from B*1501 by an unrelated substitution in codon 167 which confers similarily with B45, an antigen crossreactive with B76. A third allele encoding B76, B*1519, differs from B*1512 by a unique point substitution in exon 4. Three alleles encoding variant B15 and B62 antigens (B*1508, B*1511 and B*1515) differ from B*1501 by localized clusters of substitutions that probably result from interallelic conversion. The B15 sequences described in this paper, in combination with those previously determined, define a family of 22 alleles, including those encoding the B46 and B70 antigens. Within this family the patterns of allelic substitution are analogous to those of other HLA-A and -B families, in that pairwise differences almost always involve functional positions of the antigen recognition site and recombination is the major agent of diversification.
The nucleotide sequence of cDNA encoding the HLA-B73 antigen was determined; it is unusually divergent, differing from other HLA-B alleles by 44-77 nucleotide substitutions. Features that distinguish the B*7301 heavy chain from other HLA-B heavy chains include multiple substitutions in the alpha 3 domain and a duplication-deletion within the transmembrane region that increases the length of B*7301 compared to other HLA-B heavy chains. The duplication-deletion is shared with subsets of B alleles from the homologous gorilla (Gogo-B) and chimpanzee (Patr-B) loci. Other unusual features of B*7301 are individually shared with certain alleles of the HLA-A, HLA-C, HLA-F, Gogo-B and Patr-B loci. The B*7301 molecules has sequence elements in common with members of the B7 crossreacting group in the alpha 1 domain and is shown to possess the ME1 epitope, which is held in common with the B7, B22, B27, B42 and B67 antigens. B*7301 has a unique cysteine at position 270 of the alpha 3 domain which appears accessible but probably does not form disulphide-bonded B*7301 dimers in cell membranes. B*7301 represents a newly discovered but ancient lineage of HLA-B alleles that appears poorly represented in the modern human population.
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Santamaria et al. (Human Immunology 1993 37: 39-50) describe a method of sequence-based typing (SBT) for HLA-A, B and C alleles said to give "unambiguous typing of any sample, heterozygous or homozygous, without requiring additional typing information". From SBT analysis, which involves determination of partial sequences of mixed alleles, these investigators reported that cell lines KT17 (HLA-B35,62) and OLGA (HLA-B62) from the reference panel of the 10th International Histocompatibility Workshop express novel variants of HLA-B15 (B1501-MN6) and HLA-B35 (B3501-MN7) respectively. To study further the novel alleles, we cloned and sequenced full-length HLA-B cDNA clones isolated from the KT17 and OLGA cell lines. We find that KT17 expresses B*3501, as assigned by SBT, and B*1501, the common allele encoding the B62 antigen. We were unable to confirm that KT17 expresses the novel B1501-MN6 variant identified by SBT. For OLGA our analysis confirms the partial sequences obtained by SBT. Thus OLGA expresses B*1501 and a novel HLA-B allele. The complete sequence of the latter shows it is a hybrid having exons 1 and 2 in common with B*1501 and other B15 subtypes and exons 3-7 in common with B*3501 and related molecules including B*5301 and B*5801. The novel allele has been designated B*1520 because of its sequence similarity with the B15 group; furthermore, serological analysis shows that the B*1520 product does not express epitopes in common with either B35, B53 or B58. The B*1520 heavy chain has a similar isoelectric point to A*3101; B*1520 was undetected by previous applications of isoelectric focusing because B*1520 and A31 are both expressed by OLGA. In conclusion, HLA-B typing of two cell lines by cDNA cloning and sequencing gives concordant results with SBT for three of the four alleles. The cause of the discrepancy for the fourth allele is unknown, however, this finding indicates that the novel HLA-A, B and C sequences emerging from SBT studies need independent verification.
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