Structures of the Oligosaccharides of I-A^k Antigen and Localization of Antigenic Sites to A ^k_α and A ^k_β Chains

Abstract

The molecules which have come to be known as the murine Ia antigens were initially described in 1974 merely as molecules controlled by genes within the I region of the H-2 complex. By the time of the Third Ir Gene Workshop in December 1976 there was a growing body of evidence suggesting that the Ia antigens were, indeed, the Ir gene products, but the apparent complexity of the I region -- biochemistry and function as well as genetics -- made such a simple model at best a reasonable hypothesis but one clearly in need of testing. At the present time, and on the occasion of this, the Fifth Ir Gene Workshop, there is now ample evidence to support the hypothesis that the Ia antigens are the Ir gene products. However, formal proof, in the strictest biochemical sense, is still lacking. It is for this reason that we are studying the details of the structure of the Ia antigens so that we can progress from a thorough knowledge of their structure to a detailed analysis of the structural-functional relationships of these fascinating molecules. We will report on two separate, but potentially inter-related, aspects of our studies.