The clinical expression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) varies considerably among individual patients. Genetic variations in human leucocyte antigen (HLA) may influence clinical expression. We re-examined the association of HLA-DR with susceptibility to and clinical expression of RA using genomic tissue typing, since most studies were based on (less reliable) serological techniques. Seventy-eight ...

TRAIL is a trimeric protein that potently induces apoptosis in cancer cells by binding to the trimeric death receptors (DR4 or DR5). Death receptors are attractive therapeutic targets through both the recombinant TRAIL ligand as well as receptor agonist monoclonal antibodies. Although efficacy of the ligand is hampered by its short half-life, agonistic antibodies have a much longer half-life an...

We explored the importance of the genetic markers microsatellite TNFa, HLA-DR3-DQ2, and DR4-DQ8 in diabetes mellitus. The studied groups comprised autoimmune type 1 (n = 63), nonautoimmune type 1 (n = 35), latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA; n = 54), and nonautoimmune type 2 (n = 340) and these patients were compared to 117 healthy controls. HLA genotyping was done with polymerase chain...

The alpha/beta T cell receptor (TCR) HA1.7 specific for the hemagglutinin (HA) antigen peptide from influenza A virus is HLA-DR1 restricted but cross-reactive for the HA peptide presented by the allo-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecule HLA-DR4. We report here the structure of the HA1.7/DR4/HA complex, determined by X-ray crystallography at a resolution of 2.4 A. The overall...

OBJECTIVE To test for association of T cell receptor (TCR) V alpha polymorphisms and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in British and Swiss white populations. METHODS TCRAV polymorphisms were analysed in RA patients and controls by single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. Associations were sought between defined genotypes and RA, and the effect of HLA-DR4 status analysed. Putative a...

Presence of the HLA-DR7 allele in patients who receive transplants has been proposed as a risk factor for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-associated complications; however, the precise mechanism of this increased risk remains unresolved. Here we show that HLA-DR7-restricted HCMV-specific CD4(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) can display an unusual dual specificity toward a glycoprotein-B (gB) epit...

Patients with U1-nRNP antibodies (n = 35, 31 female, four male) were typed for HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DR antigens and IgG heavy chain allotypes G1m(1), -(2), -(3), G3m(5), and -(21). The patient group was clinically heterogeneous. Four met the American Rheumatism Association criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus, six for progressive scleroderma, and 14 for rheumatoid arthritis. Sicca syndrome ...

The human leukocyte antigen DRB1 locus (HLA-DRB1) was typed in genomic DNA extracted from whole blood samples of 34 Mexican dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients and 47 dengue fever (DF) patients, by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific oligonucleotide reverse dot blot. HLA-DRB1*04 was negatively associated with risk of DHF (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.11-0.85). HLA-DR4 homozygous individuals we...

OBJECTIVE To identify the association of HLA-DR4 subtypes with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Koreans. METHODS Ninety five patients with RA and 118 normal control subjects were examined for HLA-DR antigens by serology. Subtypes of HLA-DR4 were determined by allele specific oligonucleotide typing. RESULTS The phenotype frequency of HLA-DR4 in RA patients was significantly greater than that in ...

We sought to identify an altered peptide ligand (APL) based on the endogenously expressed synovial auto-epitope of human cartilage glycoprotein-39 (HC gp-39) for modulation of cognate, HLA-DR4-restricted T cells. For this purpose we employed a panel of well-characterized T cell hybridomas generated from HC gp-39-immunized HLA-DR4 transgenic mice. The hybridomas all respond to the HC gp-39(263-2...