Purification and structural characterisation of human HLA-linked B-cell antigens

Abstract

The human B [bone marrow-derived] cell-specific alloantigen which is closely linked genetically to HL-A contains 2 non-covalently associated, sialogycoprotein subunits of MW 29,000 (p29), and 34,000 (p34). Although p29 and p34 have different amino-terminal sequences, their tyrosine peptide maps indicate considerable similarity in other portions of their polypeptide chains. Thus the genes for their proteins may have evolved by duplication of a common ancestral gene. Another lymphocyte cell surface protein of MW 16,000 (p16) was also characterized. Both p16 and p44 (the H chain of HL-A-A,B antigens) were compared with p29 and p34.