BACKGROUND Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I genes mediate cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses and natural killer cell function. In a previous study, several HLA-B and HLA-C alleles and haplotypes were positively or negatively associated with the occurrence and prognosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS As an extension of the Upper Midwest Health Study, we hav...

Graft-versus-host reactions are mediated by subpopulations of donor T cells and can be attributed to host specific minor histocompatibility (mH) antigens. We isolated strong anti-host mH antigen proliferative T cell lines, LG2, PN2, and LH3, from three patients suffering from acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). To study the role of the different major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecu...

Natural killer and CD8+ T cells are identified as cleaners to be involved in the immune protection against virus, bacteria and tumor cells. Their function may be regulated by a cohort of receptors such as killer immunogloblinlike receptors (KIRS) and their counterpart HLA class I ligands. In this study, we analyzed the influence of KIR genes and KIR/HLA-Cw combinations on chronia hepatitis B su...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had differences in obstetric and gynaecological histories when compared with sisters without RA (controls) METHODS Ninety eight RA discordant sister pairs, 36 of whom were identical for histocompatibility locus antigen (HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-Cw) types, were asked to recall their age of menarche, duration of use of contracepti...

BACKGROUND Natural killer (NK) cells express killer immunoglobulin-like (KIR) inhibitory receptors, which recognize certain HLA class I molecules (KIR ligands), and stimulatory receptors such as FcgammaRIII. The purpose of this study was to test the possible influence of inhibitory KIR signaling on antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) mediated by allogeneic NK cells against breast cancer...

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 146 patients with metastatic melanoma undergoing interleukin 2 (IL-2)-based immunotherapy were characterized for HLA A, B, Cw, DR, DQw, and DRw specificities. Patients had been enrolled into sequential treatment protocols with either IL-2 alone (28) or in combination with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) (86), alpha-interferon (26), lymphokine-activated ki...