Abstract: The present invention provides a novel approach to the modulation of the immune response, directing it towards specific antigens, away from antigens against which no response is desired. The invention is based on the use of viral immune evasion proteins, such as UL49.5, which block antigen presentation to CD8+ T cells. The viral immune evasion proteins are used for: 1) the induction of tumor-specific or virus-specific immunity in cases where a conventional immune response is absent due to antigen processing defects; 2) the induction of empty MHC class I molecules at the cell surface that can be loaded with peptides of a desired specificity; 3) the inhibition of unwanted immune responses against transplanted tissues or organs, e.g. against islets of Langerhans in type 1 diabetes or allogeneic stem cells, or against self antigens in the case of autoimmunity.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for typing of alleles of the Minor Histocompatibility Antigen HA-1 in a sample. The method comprises: a) contacting the genomic polynucleic acids in the sample with at least one pair of primers, whereby the 51- and/or the 31-primer of the at least one pair of primers specifically hybridize to target regions comprising polymorphic nucleotides in the alleles, and performing an amplification reaction; b) for each of the at least one pair of primers detecting whether or not in step a) an amplification product is formed; c) inferring from the result of step b) which HA-1 allele is present in the sample. The present invention also provides a method for genomic typing of alleles of the Minor Histocompatibility Antigen HA-1 in a sample.

Abstract: Functional histocompatibility testing wherein stimulator calls, which are lymfocytes of a potential organ transplant donor or recipient that have been treated to become incapable of proliferation, are cocultured with responder cells, which are lymfocytes of a potential organ transplant recipient or donor that are capable of proliferation and include cytotoxic effector cells, and degranulation of said cytotoxic effector cells is determined. The degranulation of cytotoxic effector cells, such as Cytotoxic T Lymfocytes and Natural Killer cells, may be determined by measuring a granule consistituent, such as a granzyme or perforin, by means of an immunoassay in the coculture supernatant. This new method of functional histocompatibility testing may be used after a preliminary selection of donor-recipient pairs by means of HLA typing.