Public H-2 specificities are target determinants for alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
The specificity of the cross-killing exerted by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL's) generated against H-2 region products was investigated in a 51Cr release assay on a panel of target cells from a number of different H-2 haplotypes. Their pattern of reaction shows that: (1) The target cells, expressing public specificities (H-2.28, H-2.1, H-2.3 or H-2.8) which should, theoretically, be recognized by the CTL's were killed, while those expressing no public specificities, recognized according to the H-2 chart by the CTL's were not killed. (2) The CTL's generated against the H-2.28 specificity expressed on the D region products cross react with target cells expressing this specificity in their K region products and vice versa. The same phenomenon was observed with the H-2.1 specificity. These results provide evidence that public specificities are targets for CTL's. Antiserum reacting against the public specificity recognized by the CTL's was found to block the cross-killing, however, to the same extent as antisera directed against any specificity (private or public) expressed on the same molecule as the target determinant. Finally both the inhibition studies using anti-H-2 antisera and the direct cytotoxic assays showed that the public specificities of the H-2.28 family carried by the H-2.D and H-2.L molecules were recognized by different subpopulations of CTL's.
D000818:Animals; D003429:Cross Reactions; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes; D005260:Female; D006183:H-2 Antigens; D006238:Haploidy; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000939:Epitopes; D006183:H-2 Antigens; D007106:Immune Sera