The effect of individual HLA-A and -B mismatches on the generation of cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursors.

In order to study the correlation between HLA mismatches and the cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursor frequency, we used a limiting dilution analysis to determine the CTLp frequencies against individual mismatched HLA-A and -B alloantigens in 21 patients waiting for a renal transplant. Altogether, thirty-three mismatched HLA-A antigens and 55 HLA-B antigens were tested. The CTLp frequencies against mismatches of HLA-B locus antigens were found to be significantly higher than those against HLA-A antigens (P less than 0.002). This may explain why matching for HLA-B antigens is more important for a good renal allograft survival than matching for HLA-A antigens.