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From the * Division of Basic Immunology, Department of Medicine, National Jewish Center for
Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80206-2761; We have isolated several H-2Kb-alloreactive cytotoxic T cell clones and analyzed their reactivity for several forms of H-2Kb. These cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) were elicited by priming with a skin graft followed by in vitro stimulation using stimulator cells that express an H-2Kb
molecule unable to bind CD8. In contrast to most alloreactive T cells, these CTL were able to
recognize H-2Kb on the surface of the antigen processing defective cell lines RMA-S and T2.
Furthermore, this reactivity was not increased by the addition of an extract containing peptides
from C57BL/6 (H-2b) spleen cells, nor was the reactivity decreased by treating the target cells
with acid to remove peptides bound to MHC molecules. The CTL were also capable of recognizing targets expressing the mutant H-2Kbm8 molecule. These findings suggested that the
clones recognized determinants on H-2Kb that were independent of peptide. Further evidence
for this hypothesis was provided by experiments in which H-2Kb produced in Drosophila melanogaster cells and immobilized on the surface of a tissue culture plate was able to stimulate hybridomas derived from these alloreactive T cells. Precursor frequency analysis demonstrated
that skin graft priming, whether with skin expressing the wild-type or the mutant H-2Kb molecule, is a strong stimulus to elicit peptide-independent CTL. Moreover, reconstitution experiments demonstrated that the peptide-independent CTL clones were capable of mediating
rapid and complete rejection of H-2-incompatible skin grafts. These findings provide evidence
that not all allorecognition is peptide dependent.
the Department of
Immunology and the Cancer Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver,
Colorado; and § R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, San Diego, California 92121
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