Recognition by class II alloreactive T cells of processed determinants from human serum proteins.

Alloreactive T cells recognize a complex composed of an allogeneic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule and a peptide derived from the processing of nonpolymorphic proteins. A sizable fraction of MHC class II alloreactive T cells is shown to recognize peptides derived from constitutive processing of human serum proteins. One such epitope is a fragment of human serum albumin. This epitope bound selectively to the human class II molecule DRw11 and was constitutively present on antigen-presenting cells in vivo. These data indicate that, in the case of MHC class II, peptides involved in allorecognition may originate from exogenous proteins.