PEPTIDE MOTIFS OF HLA-B51, HLA-B52 AND HLA-B78 MOLECULES, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR BEHCETS-DISEASE

Here we report peptide motifs of five HLA-B molecules, B(star)5101, B- star 5102, B(star)5103, B(star)5201 and B(star)7801. Motifs were obtai ned by pool sequencing of natural ligands eluted from the respective m olecules expressed in C1R cells upon transfection. A number of individ ual ligands that could be sequenced confirmed the motifs. All five HLA -B molecules belong to the HLA-B5, B35-cross-reactive group and are cl osely related as indicated by similar sequences. B51 and B52 are assoc iated with Bw4, whereas B78 is associated with Bw6. One of the HLA-B m olecules investigated here, HLA-B(star)5101, is associated with Behcet 's disease, a multisystemic inflammatory disease affecting various org ans. This disease is especially frequent among the Japanese population . The subtle differences between the peptide motifs of B(star)5101 as compared with the motifs of the four other closely related but not dis ease-associated molecules could shed light on the nature of the HLA-as sociation of Behcet's disease.