Major transplantation antigens, viruses, and specificity of surveillance T cells.

Abstract

The altered-self hypothesis is an attempt to explain why thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) apparently lyse only virus-infected target cells with which they share major transplantation antigens (Zinkernagel and Doherty, 1974a-c; Doherty and Zinkernagel, 1974, 1975a). Specific T-cell-mediated lysis of cells infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), ectromelia virus (mouse pox), or vaccinia- or paramyxovirus (Sendai) requires homology of the K or D regions but not the I region of the major murine histocompatibility (H-2) gene complex (Doherty et al., 1976a; Zinkernagel and Doherty, 1975; Blanden et al., 1975a; Doherty and Zinkernagel, 1976; Koszinowski and Thomssen, 1975; Zinkernagel, 1976a). H-2K and H-2D code for major histocompatibility (H) or transplantation antigens that are expressed independently on the cell surface and that are responsible for rapid allogeneic graft rejection (reviewed in Schreffler and David, 1975, and Klein, 1975).