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There is no doubt that HLA-DR molecules are acting as the products of HLA-linked immune response genes (Ir-genes), because (i) HLA-DR molecules are the restriction elements in the interaction between CD4+ helper T cells and antigen-presenting cells (APC) to respond to many antigens such as streptococcal cell wall antigen (SCW) (Nishimura & Sasazuki, 1983; Sone et al., 1985; Hizayama et al., 1986), schistosomal antigen (Sj) (Hirayama et al., 1987), Mycobacterium leprae antigen (ML) (Kikuchi et al., 1986) and so on; and (ii) anti-HLA-DR monoclonal antibodies completely abolish the immune response to those antigens (Nishimura & Sasazuki, 1983; Sone et al., 1985). However, genetic analysis of the immune response to those antigens in families or populations revealed that responsiveness is recessive and non-responsiveness to those antigens is a dominant genetic trait that is tightly linked to HLA (Sasazuki et al., 1980a, 1983; Watanabe et al., 1988). This is completely opposite to the situation under the Ir-gene control where responsiveness is dominant and non-responsiveness is recessive. In this paper, we report evidence of how we came across the concept of HLA-linked immune suppression genes (Is-genes) besides Ir-genes, and show evidence for the epistatic interaction between HLA-DR and DQ to determine the immune response to several antigens in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report documenting the additions and revisions to the nomenclature of HLA specificities. It states that a number of HLA gene fragments have been reported and named which includes HLA-T previously known as HLA-16 and HLA-V previously known as HLA-75. It further discusses the conditions for acceptance of new genes and allele sequences for official names. It also presents lists of the serological specificities or antigens associated with the alleles.

Matching of human platelet alloantigen (HPA) systems 2–6 was retrospectively investigated in 715 unrelated bone marrow transplantations. Of the five HPA systems studied, HPA-5 mismatching was found to have a significant effect on the disease-free survival rate of recipients following transplantation in the HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DR allele-matched donor-recipient pairs. The effect of the HPA-5 mismatch was most significant in the recipient group possessing the HLA haplotype A*2402-B*5201, which is a highly frequent haplotype among the Japanese population. However, the probability of development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was not increased significantly by the HPA-5 mismatching. These findings suggest that the HPA-5 mismatching decreases the recipient’s survival by a mechanism different from that in the case of mismatching of minor antigens found often in transplant recipients developing GVHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the table of contents of the volume 62 of the 2003 issue of the 'Tissue Antigens' journal.