Antigenic Expression and Cross Reactions in HL‐A Variants of Lymphoid Cell Lines

Abstract

Immunogenetic studies were carried out on an HL‐A2/HL‐A3 heterozygous lymphoid cell line, 8866, and on two HL‐A2 negative variant sublines of 8866 which had arisen independently of one another. The parent 8866 line reacted positively with some W28 sera: these cross reactions were absent in both HL‐A2 “loss” variant sublines. Other serum reactions, apparently characteristic of lymphoid cell lines, were present in 8866 and were retained in the variants. HL‐A3 was expressed in hemizygous rather than homozygous dosage in the variants, ruling out mitotic crossing over as the mechanism producing HL‐A2 loss. HL‐A2 was undetectable either in the disrupted membranes or in the cytosol of the variant cells.