Nomenclature of CD molecules from the Tenth Human Leucocyte Differentiation Antigen Workshop.

Abstract

Kohler and Milstein’s1 description of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in 1975 revolutionised immunology. With the advent of hybridoma technology, immunologists started to produce an ever increasing number of mAbs directed against leukocyte cell-surface molecules. Inevitably, several mAbs produced by different laboratories and given independent names recognised the same molecule. The First International Human Leucocyte Differentiation Antigen (HLDA) Workshop was organised in the early 1980s, and aimed to identify groups of mAbs reacting with a common human cell-surface antigen and to agree a nomenclature that would facilitate better communication amongst the scientific community.2 The outcomes of the Workshops are the ‘CDs’, an abbreviation for the non-descriptive ‘cluster of differentiation’ number. The CD number is assigned to a group or cluster of mAbs that recognise a molecule expressed on the surface of human leukocytes and other cells relevant to the immune system. The nomenclature has been universally adopted by the scientific community, officially approved by the International Union of Immunological Societies and sanctioned by WHO. Its usage has now evolved and is also commonly used to name the molecules themselves. However, by adding either mAb or molecule/protein it should be made clear whether one means the CDxx mAb or CDxx molecule. Ten HLDA Workshops have been organised to date, with the most recent one held in 2014 in conjunction with the Australasian Society of Immunology in Wollongong, Australia.