0000000000764617
AUTHOR
Heike Pohla
Towards a Physical Map of the HLA Complex
The human major histocompatibility (HLA) complex is located on the short arm of chromosome 6 in the 6p21.31→6p21.33 region (1,2). There are three clusters of genes, the HLA class I, II, and III regions. Whereas the class III loci are only moderately polymorphic (see (3) for review), the class I and II genes which encode cell surface glycoproteins show an extreme degree of polymorphism. There are a minimum of 17 class I loci (4) and at least 15 genes for class II alpha and beta chains (5). In addition, we (6) and others (7) have recently demonstrated that also the loci for tumor necrosis factor (TNFA) and lymphotoxin (TNFB) are part of the HLA complex [see also Ragoussis et al., this volume]…
RNA Transfer by Electroporation into Mature Dendritic Cells Leading to Reactivation of Effector-Memory Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes: A Quantitative Analysis
Previous studies have analyzed transfer of RNA-encoded tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) into immature dendritic cells (DCs) because of their exceptional ability to internalize antigens. Concerns have been raised regarding the use of immature DCs in clinical studies because of their capacity to tolerize T cells. Therefore, we focused on optimizing RNA transfer into mature DCs using the method of electroporation and obtained high protein expression in 90% of mature DCs. Particular emphasis was placed on quantifying RNA transfer. Reconstitution of peptide-MHC (pMHC) ligands on RNA-pulsed DCs was measured with the help of effector-memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) specific for the melanoma-…