Isolation of rat major histocompatibility genes expressed in pancreatic beta-cells

The probable role of cell surface antigens in the development of juvenile diabetes necessitates a detailed study of the proteins expressed on the surface of pancreatic beta-cells. A gene library composed of genes expressed in beta-cells was constructed to provide a source of low abundance genes from those cells. Initial studies with this library have led to the isolation of three genes which share nucleotide and amino acid sequence homology with mouse and human class I major histocompatibility antigens.