Major transplantation antigens, viruses, and specificity of surveillance T cells.

Abstract

The altered-self hypothesis is an attempt to explain why thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) apparently lyse only virus-infected target cells with which they share major transplantation antigens (Zinkernagel and Doherty, 1974a-c; Doherty and Zinkernagel, 1974, 1975a). Specific T-cell-mediated lysis of cells infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), ectromelia virus (mouse pox), or vaccinia- or paramyxovirus (Sendai) requires homology of the K or D regions but not the I region of the major murine histocompatibility (H-2) gene complex (Doherty et al., 1976a; Zinkernagel and Doherty, 1975; Blanden et al., 1975a; Doherty and Zinkernagel, 1976; Koszinowski and Thomssen, 1975; Zink..