Virus-immune cytotoxic T cells recognize structural differences between serologically indistinguishable HLA-A2 molecules.

The self-specificity of human influenza virus-immune cytotoxic T cells has been analyzed in order to identify the relationship between the self-determinants which they recognize and the serologically defined HLA-A and -B antigenic determinants. Virus-immune T cells were generated in vitro by culture of normal adult peripheral blood lymphocytes with A/HK influenza virus. Virus-immune effectors from HLA-A2 positive donors were tested on panels of virus-infected target cells from donors who were either HLA-mismatched or matched only for the HLA-A2 specificity. Virus-immune T cells from 11/11 A2-positive donors lysed all A2-matched virus-infected target cells (and no HLA-mismatched targets), except that each of these effector cell populations consistently failed to lyse the virus-infected target cells from one A2-positive donor (designated M7). Although the A2 antigen of donor M7 could also be distinguished from the A2 antigen of other donors by alloimmune cytotoxic T cells, no differences in the A2 antigen of donor M7 could be defined by extensive serological analyses. Results of isoelectric focusing of A2 molecules from three individuals plus M7 demonstrated that the M7 A2 heavy-polypeptide chain is structurally distinct. These results indicate that: 1) there is a strong but incomplete association between a self antigen recognized by virus-immune T cells and the serologically defined HLA-A2 specificity; and 2) there may be at least two structurally and functionally distinct epitopes on the same A2 molecule: one is the serologically defined HLA-A2 antigenic determinant; the other is the self determinant recognized by T cells on HLA-A2 molecules.