H-2 restriction of contact inhibition of epithelial cells.

Medawar has suggested that the major histocompatibility gene complex (MHC) might be involved in the contact inhibition of movement shown by fibroblasts and epithelia. Contact inhibition of movement is that reaction of cells which stops the movement of one cell over another and thus leads to monolayering and other features of morphology typical of cells in culture and in vivo. By confronting epithelial outgrowths we have compared contact inhibition between syngeneic cells with that between allogeneic cells. Contact inhibition was more marked between allogeneic combinations than syngeneic combinations, when the genetic mismatch lay in certain parts of the MHC complex.