Minor histocompatibility (H) Ag disparities result in graft-vs-host disease and chronic solid allograft rejection in MHC-identical donor-recipient combinations. Minor H Ags are self protein-derived peptides presented by MHC class I molecules. Most arise as a consequence of allelic variation in the bound peptide (p) that results in TCR recognizing the p/MHC as foreign. We used a combinational peptide screening approach to identify the immune dominant H2Kb-restricted epitope defining the mouse H4b minor H Ag. H4b is a consequence of a P3 threonine to isoleucine change in the MHC-bound peptide derived from epithelial membrane protein-3. This allelic variation also leads to phosphorylation of the H4b but not the H4a epitope. Further, ex vivo CD8+ T lymphocytes bind phosphorylated Ag tetramers with high efficiency. Although we document the above process in the minor H Ag system, posttranslational modifications made possible by subtle amino acid changes could also contribute to immunogenicity and immune dominance in tumor immunotherapeutic settings.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rangaiah_shashidharamurthy/13/
This article was published in Journal of Immunology, Volume 170, Issue 10, Pages 5133-5142.
The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.170.10.5133 .Copyright © 2003 American Association of Immunologists.