Histoincompatibility was first detected in mice at the beginning of the 20th century. The great majority of the loci responsible for this complex genetic trait are located on the autosomal chromosomes. The ability to customize the mouse genome by the production of congenic stocks of mice that...

Early studies in histocompatibility focused on the number of genes that evoke graft rejection. Initially, (H) genes were treated together as a set and the size of this set was the most important question. Not until George Snell isolated H genes in congenic strains could an individual H gene’s...

My first research project in immunology was given to me in 1979 by Jan Klein at the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen. He explained to me what minor histocompatibility (H) antigens are, or more exactly, what was known about them, and suggested that I test the polymorphism of minor H...

Minor histocompatibility (H) antigens were first defined at the cellular level approximately 50 years ago. Since then, over 50 distinct H loci have been identified based upon their inheritance and segregation patterns in recombinant and congenic mouse strains. Polymorphisms in the H antigens...

The mystery of the molecular nature of minor histocompatibility (H) antigens is solved: this volume, and the meeting that begot it, record both that fact and the uses to which this new knowledge is being put. Historically the solution to the mystery is in no small part due to the study of some...

HY was not the first minor histocompatibility (H) antigen to be detected in mice, since the work of several investigators during the first half of the 20th century had previously established that there were a number of independently segregating loci controlling the rejection of allogeneic skin...

Minor H antigens have two fundamental characteristics: 1. they are MHC-associated self peptides derived from the partial proteolysis of endogenous proteins, and 2. they are polymorphic and immunogenic for T cells. Because of their polymorphism and immunogenicity, minor H antigens can trigger...

Minor histocompatibility (H) antigens are readily studied in the HLA identical Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) setting. BMT in combination with chemoradiotherapy is used as a treatment for severe aplastic anemia, leukemia, and other hematologic malignancies. The ideal transplant situation is...

In allogeneic human blood and bone marrow transplantation, it has been apparent for many years that although disparity for HLA can contribute to both graft rejection and graft versus host disease, there are also important non-HLA loci involved. This conclusion is based on observations that graft...

Marrow transplantation is often complicated by graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Billingham formulated the requirements for GVHD as (1) genetically determined histocompatibility differences between the recipient and donor, (2) the presence of immunocompetent cells in the graft, and (3) inability...

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a major complication of clinical bone marrow\r\ntransplantation (BMT), results from the recognition of determinants in the host as foreign by immunologic effector cells derived from the transplanted donor bone marrow. Though not generally thought of in these...

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has developed into an important therapeutic approach for the treatment of hematologic disorders, and in particular several forms of leukemia. However, BMT is still hampered by the development of donor T cell-mediated graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)....

Many histocompatibility (H) antigens stimulate rejection of allografts and graft-versushost disease (GVHD) following bone marrow transplantation in mammals. They can be subdivided into two groups: 1. alloantigens encoded by genes mapping to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC and H2 in...

One of the major goals of therapeutic immunosuppression is to use short-term therapy to achieve long-term tolerance. Short courses of treatment with antibodies specific for CD4 molecules on T cells can create peripheral tolerance in a mature rodent immune system to skin, heart or marrow grafts....

In 1962 Silverman and Chin reported that some radiation chimeras they had constructed rejected skin grafts from the bone marrow cell (BMC) donor without losing BM chimerism. The model was a xenogeneic one, lethally irradiated C57BL mice restored with Sprague- Dawley rat BMC, and the authors were...

Transplantation of bone marrow and solid organs initiates a complex array of immunological responses in the recipient. A perfect match at both major and minor histocompatibility (H) antigens is a very rare occurrence. Therefore, immune system of the recipient is confronted with an array of...

Cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs) have been shown to mediate tumor rejection in several animal models. In humans, tumor immunologists are working under the assumption that T lymphocytes might be able to eradicate cancer cells as effectively as they do with virus-infected cells. An exciting challenge...