Fundamental Immunogenetics—Their Application to Histocompatibility12 1Supported by ONR Grant NOOO14-67-A-0003, NIH Grants GM 15422 and AI 08439, and National Science Foundation Grant CRBS 246. 2This is paper No. 1500 from the Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the fundamentals of immunogenetics and their application to histocompatibility. This chapter focuses on the basic principles underlying the genetic control of transplantation antigens and on the methods used both to detect these antigens and to analyze the data obtained with the various methods. Antigens are histocompatibility antigens if they can be related to graft rejection. In the absence of treatment protocols designed to delay or prevent graft rejection, any histocompatibility antigen will lead to graft rejection if the antigen is present on donor tissue and absent from the host. Some histocompatibility differences are probably present in all donor-recipient combinations, with the exception of identical twins in man and inbred strains in other animal species.