Immunodominance hierarchies and gender bias in direct T-CD8-cell alloreactivity

Abstract

Allogeneic solid organ transplantation often occurs across multiple donor-recipient HLA mismatches with consequent risk of allograft rejection. However, there is growing evidence that not all HLA mismatches are equivalent in their stimulation of allogeneic T cells making it important to determine which of these might be more significant as predictors of allograft rejection. To this end, we used defined antigen-presenting cell (APC) transfectants expressing single MHC-I allotypes as target cells that could discriminate the relative contribution of individual mismatched MHC-I allotypes to direct T-cell alloreactivity. We demonstrate remarkably reproducible patterns of immunodominance in reacti..