TRANSPLANTATION EFFECTS OF A UNIQUE MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX CLASS-I MUTATION

This study describes a novel MHC class I mouse mutant that was discovered because of loss of reactivity of its cells to monoclonal antibodies. The mutation occurred in the H-2K(s) molecule and is the first in vivo mutation described that has a single altered amino acid residue (amino acid 107) distant from the regions considered to be peptide or TCR contacts. Nevertheless, skin grafts from the mutant to the parent are rejected by CD8+ T-cells. In the reciprocal direction, the mutant shows partial tolerance to parental skin grafts, suggesting that the mutant is inefficient in selecting alloreactive T-cells specific for the wild-type K(s) molecule.