The Journal of Immunology, Vol 145, Issue 1 136-139, Copyright © 1990 by American Association of Immunologists
T lymphocyte recognition of a celiac disease-associated cis- or trans- encoded HLA-DQ alpha/beta-heterodimer [published erratum appears in J Immunol 1990 Nov 1;145(9):3151]
KE Lundin, LM Sollid, E Qvigstad, G Markussen, HA Gjertsen, J Ek and E Thorsby
Institute of Transplantation Immunology, National Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
The HLA-associated susceptibility to develop celiac disease may to a large
extent be attributed to the combination of particular DQA1 and DQB1 genes,
i.e., the DQA1*0501 and DBQB1*0201 alleles, located either in cis position
(on the DR3DQw2 haplotype) or in trans position (DR5DQw7/DR7DQw2
heterozygous individuals). We report three alloreactive T lymphocyte clones
that recognize an HLA-DQ alpha/beta heterodimer both when the DQA1*0501 and
DQB1*0201 alleles are located in cis or in trans position. Thus, the celiac
disease associated DQA1 and DQB1 genes encode a functionally expressed DQ
alpha/beta heterodimer.