title: Cytotoxic T lymphocytes against HLA-B antigens are less naive than cytotoxic T lymphocytes against HLA-A antigens.
abstract: In healthy individuals, like in highly sensitized patients, CTL precursors (CTLp) frequencies against HLA-A antigens were found to be significantly lower than CTLp frequencies against HLA-B antigens. In the present study, we tested whether not only quantitative but also qualitative differences exist between CTLs against HLA-A antigens versus HLA-B antigens. Experiments performed in the presence of antibodies against CD8 showed that CTLp directed against HLA-B antigens were significantly less inhibited by anti-CD8 compared with CTLp against HLA-A. The low anti-CD8 inhibition of the CTLp directed against HLA-B antigens may be explained by a higher affinity of the CTLp for HLA-B antigens on the target cells. CTLp directed against HLA-B antigens were also found to be less sensitive to CsA, which suggests that their high affinity is due to previous priming. A clinical relevance of these findings is suggested by the observation that matching for HLA-B antigens is of greater importance for kidney graft survival than matching for HLA-A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunohematology and Blood Bank, University Hospital Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Roelen
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: van Bree
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Beelen
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schanz
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van Rood
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Claas
mesh_terms: D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000517:prevention & control; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens