One hundred fifty-five healthy nonagenarians, 45 men and 100 women, all French Caucasians, were phenotyped for alleles of the A, B, C, DR loci of the HLA complex. The observed HLA antigen frequencies were compared to those of a control series of 133 males and 179 females whose ages ranged from 10 to 50 years. When comparing the total young and elderly series, no significant differences were observed with respect to HLA antigen distribution or heterozygosity at any of the loci. When taking sex difference into account, however, an excess of the Cw1 antigen was found in the group of elderly females (p less than 0.001) and an excess of the Cw7 antigen in the group of elderly males (p less than 0.001). Of particular significance was the fact that Cw7 belonged in this instance to a phenotypic combination (and most probably to the corresponding haplotype) A1/Cw7/B8/DR3 which was found significantly increased in male nonagenarians (p less than 0.001). These results support the hypothesis that certain HLA haplotypes are associated with survival advantage.

A series of B cell hybridomas was used as a model system to assess quantitatively the role of Ia molecules in antigen presentation to allo- or soluble antigen-reactive T cell clones. These hybrid cell lines were established by fusion between the HGPRT-BALB/c B cell lymphoma M12.4.1 and LPS-stimulated spleen blasts from B10.BR (H-2k) mice. Quantitative cellular absorption of appropriate anti-Ia monoclonal antibodies and flow cytofluorometric analyses revealed that the B cell hybridomas examined herein expressed constitutively a number of surface I-Ak or I-Ek molecules that varied in an order of magnitude of 1 to 5. Such quantitative differences could be correlated precisely with (a) the capacity of B cell hybridomas to activate T cell clones to proliferate and/or to produce interleukin 2 in response to E beta k allodeterminant or to poly(Glu60Ala30Tyr10) presented in the context of I-Ak restriction element, and (b) the amount of monoclonal anti-I-Ak antibody required to inhibit antigen presentation to T cell clones. The possible implications of these data are discussed in the context of current models of regulation of Ia antigen expression by antigen-presenting cells.