Editorial D. Bernard Amos
T H E 1991 N O M E N C L A T U R E
REPORT
This is the 25th anniversary of the naming of the HLA system. The term was agreed upon in N o v e m b e r 1967 at a meeting of scientists of diverse backgrounds, including F.H. Allen, D.B. Amos, H. Balner, J.R. Batchelor, W. Bodmer, R. Ceppellini, J. Dausset, V. Eijsvoogel, and C.P. Engelfriet [1]. At that meeting, which coincided with presentations by contractors and officials of the Transplantation and Immunology Program of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Williamsburg, Virginia, it was agreed that the antigens belonged to a single system and were inherited as "allelic units"--this was before the coining of the term haplotype by Ceppellini. Among the other names considered were Hu-1, Group IV, Du-1, LA, TO, and LC. Recognition that HLA was a single, major histocompatibility or transplantation system depended upon the segregation of serologically detected antigens in families, the results of mixed leukocyte cultures in families, and intrafamilial skin graft survival. A Nomenclature Committee working with the assistance of the World Health Organization, thereafter called the W H O Committee, described the features of an acceptable nomenclature and agreed upon a notational system. The Nomenclature Committee also agreed upon criteria for the adoption of new specificities and for the allocation of numbers for them [2]. All of the designated specificities were, at that time, defined by serological patterns, a practice that continued unchanged except for the addition of the H L A - D series in 1976 [3] and a system for designating the chains of class II molecules in 1987 [4]. In this issue, we include the latest report of the W H O Committee and with it the introduction of a new
Human Immunology 34, 1 (1992) © American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 1992
system of designating serological specificities based entirely on the previously designated D N A sequence producing this specificity. From this it would seem likely that sequence alone would determine specificity. This is not entirely certain, however, as sequence is not the sole arbiter of conformation and the HLA molecules appear to be very susceptible to conformational changes. The current nomenclature makes no provision for some widely recognized epitopes including Bw4 and Bw6 although they may have considerable functional activity. The complexity of the known genes and their products continues to grow, but the introduction of a new terminology is not without its critics. The Editors believe that the subject is so complex and so important to our understanding of immunological diseases including autoimmunity as well as to the response of transplants that we have asked Dr. Julia Bodmer to comment on the changes. We welcome other comments and suggestions on this subject and especially on those orphans of the HLA and H-2 systems, the broadly reactive specificities.
REFERENCES 1. Amos DB: Science 159:659, 1968. 2. Allen FH, Amos DB, Batchelor JR, et al.: Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system. Bull WHO 39:483, 1968. 3. Amos DB, Batchelor JR, Bodmer WF, et al.: Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system. Bull WHO 52:261, 1975. 4. Bodmer WF, Albert E, Bodmer JG: Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system, 1987. In Dupont B (ed): Histocompatibility Testing, 1987. New York, Springer-Verlag, 1989, p 72.
1 0198-8859/92/$5.00
T H E 1991 N O M E N C L A T U R E
REPORT
This is the 25th anniversary of the naming of the HLA system. The term was agreed upon in N o v e m b e r 1967 at a meeting of scientists of diverse backgrounds, including F.H. Allen, D.B. Amos, H. Balner, J.R. Batchelor, W. Bodmer, R. Ceppellini, J. Dausset, V. Eijsvoogel, and C.P. Engelfriet [1]. At that meeting, which coincided with presentations by contractors and officials of the Transplantation and Immunology Program of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Williamsburg, Virginia, it was agreed that the antigens belonged to a single system and were inherited as "allelic units"--this was before the coining of the term haplotype by Ceppellini. Among the other names considered were Hu-1, Group IV, Du-1, LA, TO, and LC. Recognition that HLA was a single, major histocompatibility or transplantation system depended upon the segregation of serologically detected antigens in families, the results of mixed leukocyte cultures in families, and intrafamilial skin graft survival. A Nomenclature Committee working with the assistance of the World Health Organization, thereafter called the W H O Committee, described the features of an acceptable nomenclature and agreed upon a notational system. The Nomenclature Committee also agreed upon criteria for the adoption of new specificities and for the allocation of numbers for them [2]. All of the designated specificities were, at that time, defined by serological patterns, a practice that continued unchanged except for the addition of the H L A - D series in 1976 [3] and a system for designating the chains of class II molecules in 1987 [4]. In this issue, we include the latest report of the W H O Committee and with it the introduction of a new
Human Immunology 34, 1 (1992) © American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 1992
system of designating serological specificities based entirely on the previously designated D N A sequence producing this specificity. From this it would seem likely that sequence alone would determine specificity. This is not entirely certain, however, as sequence is not the sole arbiter of conformation and the HLA molecules appear to be very susceptible to conformational changes. The current nomenclature makes no provision for some widely recognized epitopes including Bw4 and Bw6 although they may have considerable functional activity. The complexity of the known genes and their products continues to grow, but the introduction of a new terminology is not without its critics. The Editors believe that the subject is so complex and so important to our understanding of immunological diseases including autoimmunity as well as to the response of transplants that we have asked Dr. Julia Bodmer to comment on the changes. We welcome other comments and suggestions on this subject and especially on those orphans of the HLA and H-2 systems, the broadly reactive specificities.
REFERENCES 1. Amos DB: Science 159:659, 1968. 2. Allen FH, Amos DB, Batchelor JR, et al.: Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system. Bull WHO 39:483, 1968. 3. Amos DB, Batchelor JR, Bodmer WF, et al.: Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system. Bull WHO 52:261, 1975. 4. Bodmer WF, Albert E, Bodmer JG: Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system, 1987. In Dupont B (ed): Histocompatibility Testing, 1987. New York, Springer-Verlag, 1989, p 72.
1 0198-8859/92/$5.00
