title: Somatic variants of the level of expression of a cell surface antigen.
abstract: Somatic variants with constitutive changes in the expression of the cortical thymocyte differentiation antigen HTA 1 were derived from the T-cell leukemia line Molt 4 using monoclonal antibody NA1/34 and the fluorescent activated cell sorter. Cells with the highest and lowest fluorescence were sorted and expanded. After several cycles, high expressor variants, with 10- to 12-fold increased surface HTA 1 and low expressors, with a level of one third relative to the wild-type, were obtained. The stability of the high expressors was improved by cloning. In spite of the large differences in the level of HTA 1 between the various mutants and the wild-type, the expression of HLA-A,B,C or its increase following interferon-alpha stimulation, remained unchanged. Although in HTA 1 there was only a trace of beta2-microglobulin (beta2m) detected by lactoperoxidase labelling of the high expressor variants, significant levels of both beta2m and HTA 1 light chain beta(t) were observed in gels stained with Coomassie blue. The physiological association of beta(t) with HTA 1 was confirmed by the substantial increase of beta(t) which parallels the increase of HTA 1.
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: O R
authors.initials: OR
authors.lastname: Burrone
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Calabi
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Kefford
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Milstein
mesh_terms: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D015236:HLA-C Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D015236:HLA-C Antigens; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin