| First Author | Guidry PA | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 175 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 5248-59 |
| PubMed ID | 16210630 | Mgi Jnum | J:118707 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3700193 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.175.8.5248 |
| Citation | Guidry PA, et al. (2005) The murine family of gut-restricted class Ib MHC includes alternatively spliced isoforms of the proposed HLA-G homolog, 'blastocyst MHC'. J Immunol 175(8):5248-59 |
| abstractText | The gastrointestinal tract is populated by a multitude of specialized immune cells endowed with receptors for classical (class Ia) and nonclassical (class Ib) MHC proteins. To identify class I products that engage these receptors and impact immunity/tolerance, we studied gut-transcribed class Ib loci and their polymorphism in inbred, outbred, and wild-derived mice. Intestinal tissues enriched in epithelial cells contained abundant transcripts of ubiquitously expressed and preferentially gut-restricted Q and T class I loci. The latter category included the 'blastocyst Mhc' gene, H2-Bl, and its putative paralog, Tw5. Expression of H2-Bl was previously detected only at the maternal/fetal interface, where it was proposed to induce immune tolerance via interactions with CD94/NKG2A receptors. Analysis of coding region polymorphism performed here revealed two major alleles of H2-Bl with conserved residues at positions critical for class I protein folding and peptide binding. Both divergent alleles are maintained in outbred and wild mice under selection for fecundity and pathogen resistance. Surprisingly, we found that alternative splicing of H2-Bl mRNA in gut tissues is prevalent and allele-specific. It leads to strain-dependent expression of diverse repertoires of canonical and noncanonical transcripts that may give rise to distinct ligands for intestinal NK cell, T cell, and/or intraepithelial lymphocyte receptors. |
