Minor histocompatibility antigens

✍ Scribed by Elizabeth Simpson; Derry Roopenian

• Book ID: 104358674
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 773 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-7915
• DOI: 10.1016/s0952-7915(97)80045-3

✦ Synopsis

The existence of transplantation antigens, in addition to those encoded by genes in the MHC, has been known for over half a century. The molecular identification of these additional minor histocompatibility (H) antigens lagged behind that of their MHC counterparts, largely because minor H antigens are recognised by T cells and not by antibodies. In the past year, however, new minor H antigens have been identified at both the genetic and protein level and include Uty, a second novel gene encoding a male-specific epitope in mice, a novel autosomal gene encoding each of the H-13 alleles of mice, and a second male-specific epitope encoded by the SMCY gene.