Anti-MUC1 antibodies react directly with MUC1 peptides presented by class I H2 and HLA molecules

Peptides bound in the groove of MHC class I molecules and detected by CTLs are not normally accessible to Ab. We now report that MUC1 peptides that are bound within the groove of MHC class I molecules (H2 and HLA) and that can be detected by CTLs can also be detected by anti-MUC1 Abs. mAbs to the middle and C-terminal regions of the class I-associated peptides but not to the N terminus were able to react with MUC1 peptides bound to H2Kb and HLA-A*0201, and only to the mid-region for H2Db, by flow cytometry and also to block CTL activity. Molecular modeling showed that the N terminus is buried (and not accessible), whereas the midpeptide residues form a loop and the C terminus is free, making these two regions accessible to Ab. The findings demonstrate for the first time that peptides associated with class I molecules can be detected by anti-peptide Abs.