ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF 2 NEW FUNCTIONAL SUBTYPES OF HLA-B35

Human minor histocompatibility antigen-specific, HLA-B3501-restricted cytotoxic T-cell clones were assayed on a panel of 25 different targe t cells previously typed by serology as HLA-B35. Cells from 6 donors w ere not killed and cells from 2 of these were further studied by molec ular cloning to characterize their HLA class I alleles. Two new HLA-B3 5 subtypes were identified. The sequence of one of them differs from B 3501 by one nucleotide change at codon 156, replacing a Leu for an Ar g. The sequence of the other new subtype also shows a single nucleotid e change compared to B3501, with Gly-->Val substitution at residue 16 . With these new variants, the allelic complexity of HLA-B35 extends n ow to eight subtypes.