PEPTIDE MOTIFS OF HLA-B51, HLA-B52 AND HLA-B78 MOLECULES, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR BEHCETS-DISEASE

Here we report peptide motifs of five HLA-B molecules, B(star)5101, B-star 5102, B(star)5103, B(star)5201 and B(star)7801. Motifs were obtained by pool sequencing of natural ligands eluted from the respective molecules expressed in C1R cells upon transfection. A number of individual ligands that could be sequenced confirmed the motifs. All five HLA-B molecules belong to the HLA-B5, B35-cross-reactive group and are closely related as indicated by similar sequences. B51 and B52 are associated with Bw4, whereas B78 is associated with Bw6. One of the HLA-B molecules investigated here, HLA-B(star)5101, is associated with Behcet's disease, a multisystemic inflammatory disease affecting various organs. This disease is especially frequent among the Japanese population. The subtle differences between the peptide motifs of B(star)5101 as compared with the motifs of the four other closely related but not disease-associated molecules could shed light on the nature of the HLA-association of Behcet's disease.