EPITOPE FINE SPECIFICITY OF HUMAN ANTI-HLA-A2 ANTIBODIES - IDENTIFICATION OF 4 EPITOPES INCLUDING A HAPTEN-LIKE EPITOPE ON HLA-A2 AT LYSINE127

Anti-HLA-A2 CREG antibodies were purified from seven individuals by af finity chromatography. The binding of the purified antibodies to singl e or multiple amino acid variants of HLA-A2.1 was measured with an inh ibition RIA. Substitutions at 10 amino acid residues in the polymorphi c alpha1 and alpha2 domains were important for human antibody binding; eight of these have previously been shown to be important in the bind ing of murine anti-HLA-A2 CREG antibodies. Unlike any previously repor ted murine mAbs, the binding of antibodies from two individuals was el iminated by a substitution at the HLA-A2, -24, -28 shared loop amino a cid residue lysine 127. Conversely, when the asparagine at residue 127 on the non-cross-reactive HLA-A3 was replaced with lysine, antibody b inding was completely restored. The results further suggest that both lambda- and kappa-containing human antibodies that bind to this region may recognize lysine 127 as a haptenlike epitope. Anti-HLA-A2 antibod ies that recognized a conformational epitope defined by changes at gly cine 62 in the alpha1 domain were predominanted by lambda light chains whereas those that recognize an epitope defined by a loop residue at tryptophan 107 in the alpha2 domain were predominated by kappa light c hains. The data are consistent with a model of restricted epitope reco gnition of HLA-A2 by human B cells that is similar to, but distinct fr om, epitope recognition by mouse B-cell hybridomas, and may help to ex plain the phenomenon of public or cross-reactive idiotypes in the HLA system.