Peptide-mediated allo-recognition of HLA-B27 by cytotoxic T lymphocytes

Abstract

The molecular basis of the recognition of class-I HLA antigens by allo-reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) remains obscure. This article reviews our work in which HLA-B27-specific allo-reactive CTL clones were obtained and their fine specificity was analyzed with a panel of structurally defined HLA-B27 natural variants and site-directed mutants expressed on human and mouse cells. The results have implications for the involvement of endogenous peptides in determining the clonal diversity of HLA-B27 allogeneic responses and the fine specificity of T-cell recognition when HLA-B27 is expressed on different cell types.