Reactivity of anti-HLA class I polymorphic monoclonal antibodies with normal human skin

In this work the reactivity of 16 monoclonal antibodies raised against different HLA class I specificities was tested with human skin of healthy donors of known HLA typing. By indirect immunofluorescence, six antibodies reacted strongly with keratinocytes carrying the corresponding alloantigens. The reactivity of 3 other antibodies which was weak or absent using indirect immunofluorescence, was enhanced by various amplification systems such as avidin-biotin-peroxidase method, biotin-streptavidin-fluorescein complex and especially preliminary trypsin treatment that revealed alloantigens masked in the epidermis. The immunostaining of 4 antibodies was negative regardless of the method used. Some of the antibodies we tested cross-reacted with cytoplasmic antigens of keratinocytes. This study has allowed to select a battery of monoclonal antibodies which can specifically detect alloantigens on keratinocytes and will be useful for the recognition the cell origin in allografting experiments.