Does anyone have experience with soluble HLA class I or b-2M? Class I HLA molecules potentially can be cleaved by metalloproteinases and released into plasma. In the process, they may retain associated b-2M and antigen. Is anyone familiar with this or have experience in this field?

wwierda said:

Does anyone have experience with soluble HLA class I or b-2M? Class I HLA molecules potentially can be cleaved by metalloproteinases and released into plasma. In the process, they may retain associated b-2M and antigen. Is anyone familiar with this or have experience in this field?

It has been some evidence that the whole HLA molecule is cleaved or shed in the serum and the association with beta-2M is conseved. Some ELISA or FACS assays were able to detect circulating free HLA antigens in the blood. Although all HLA class I antigens do not shed with the same rate.

Couple years ago, I tried solid-phase detection of soluble Class I antigen in sera using anti-b2m as the secondary ab, and it worked well in general. The most comprehensive reference on soluble HLA I found was the review article by McDonald and Adamashvili; Human Immunology 59, 387-403 (1998).