Historical Developments in Understanding the Function of Class I MHC Genes

Abstract

It is reasonable to state that, as late as 1973, the reason for the existence and extraordinary polymorphism of the strong transplantation antigens (now known as the class I MHC glycoproteins) was not understood (Amos et al., 1971; Bodmer, 1972). Two sets of facts were undisputed: that the allograft response was extremely potent, and that the frequency of effector T cells specific for foreign transplantation antigens was very high (Simonsen, 1967; Wilson, et al., 1968). This had led to a variety of speculations, a few of the more perceptive of which are listed in Table 1.