International Immunology, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 393-400,March 1995
© 1995 Japanese Society for Immunology
General role of HLA class I molecules in the protection of target cells from lysis by natural killer cells: evidence that the free heavy chains of class I molecules are not sufficient to mediate the protective effect
1 Istituto Nazionale per Ia Ricerca sul Cancro and CBA 16132 Genoa, Italy
2 Istituto di Anatomia Umana, University of Genoa 16132 Genoa, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Biologia e Tecnologia, Istituto H. S. Raffaele 20132 Milano, Italy
4 Istituto di Istologia ed Embriologia Generale, University of Genoa 16132 Genoa, Italy
5 Istituto di Patologia Generale, University of Genoa 16132 Genoa, Italy
Correspondence to: Correspondence to: E Ciccone
Some HLA-C alleles have been shown to exert a specific protective effect preventing target cells from lysis by groups of natural killer (NK) clones displaying a defined specificity. In this study, we analyzed whether class I-mediated protection is a more general phenomenon involving all NK cells. First, we utilized two anti-class I mAbs (6A4 of IgG1 isotype and A6-136 of IgM isotype), which had been shown to induce lysis of protected target cells by group 1 and group 2 NK clones. Addition of A6-136 or 6A4 used as F(ab')2 mAb resulted in lysis of protected target cells by all NK clones analyzed. Target cells were represented by a panel of HLA homozygous Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cell lines (B-EBV) while NK clones were representative of clones displaying different GL183/EB6 surface phenotypes and/or different abilities to lyse allogeneic cells. Unselected NK clones derived from seven different individuals were tested against autologous target cells represented by phytohemagglutinin-induced blasts or B-EBV transformed cell lines. In both instances, addition of a mixture of 6A4 F(ab')2 and A6-136 mAbs resulted in lysis of autologous target cells, thus suggesting that class I molecules prevent lysis of normal cells by self NK cells. We further investigated whether the class I-mediated protection requires the complexed form of class I molecules (composed of 
chain, ß2-microglobulin and the antigen peptide) or rather the free a chain. Acidic treatment of the C1R (Cw4+) target cells or 81.22 (Cw3+, Cw4+) at pH 2.2 resulted in loss of reactivity with 6A4, A6-136 and W6-32 mAb (known to react with the assembled form of class I molecules) and in the de novo reactivity with L31 mAb (specific for the HLA-C free chain). While the untreated Cw4+ C1R cells were resistant to lysis by the Cw4-speciflc group 1 NK clones, the pH 2.2-treated cells became highly susceptible to lysis by the same clones. These data indicate that, at least for the NK clones analyzed, the protection of target cells requires class I molecules in the complexed form.
Keywords: class I, HLA, natural killer, protection
Received 3 April 1994, accepted 16 November 1994.
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