Design and validation of conditional ligands for HLA-B*08:01, HLA-B*15:01, HLA-B*35:01, and HLA-B*44:05

Abstract

We designed conditional ligands restricted to HLA-B*08:01, -B*35:01, and -B*44:05 and proved the use of a conditional ligand previously designed for HLA-B*15:02 together with HLA-B*15:01. Furthermore, we compared the detection capabilities of specific HLA-B*15:01-restricted T cells using the HLA-B*15:01 and HLA-B*15:02 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) multimers and found remarkable differences in the staining patterns detected by flow cytometry. These new conditional ligands greatly add to the application of MHC-based technologies in the analyses of T-cell recognition as they represent frequently expressed HLA-B molecules. This expansion of conditional ligands is important to allow T-cell detection over a wide range of HLA restrictions, and provide comprehensive understanding of the T-cell recognition in a given context.

Keywords: CD8 T cells; HLA-B molecules; MHC multimer; conditional ligands; flow cytometry.