ROLE OF THE H-2 COMPLEX IN THE HOMING AFFINITY OF INJECTED LYMPHOID CELLS TO THE HOST'S LYMPH NODES

Abstract
The role of H-2 and non-H-2 gene products was studied in a model of non-immune cell-cell interactions which underlie the homing affinity to lymph nodes of injected 51Cr-labelled lymph node cells. The effect of various donor-recipient combinations was tested by comparing the allogeneic/syngeneic ratio of radioactivity recovered from the lymph nodes. The homing affinity was reduced to about 50% when the donor-recipient incompatibility extended over the whole H-2 chromosome. When confined to a single region (H-2K, I or D) H-2 incompatibility caused no significant allogeneic inhibition of the homing affinity. The cumulative effect of two partial incompatibilities (K + I or D + I) was, however, reflected in a significant allogeneic inhibition. Non-H-2 incompatibilities had, as a rule, a weak effect; the non-H-2 gene products may not be directly involved in the cell interactions under test.