Monoclonal antibodies to HLA-DR antigens

Monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) have been invaluable in the study of human MHC class-11 (or la-like) antigens. For this to continue some pooling of resources was needed and in 1982 the British Medical Research Council's Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit in Edinburgh initiated an information exchange scheme on anti-class-11 Mabs in an attempt to classify and group at least some of these reagents. Over 100 Mabs from 25 laboratories were screened by several centres in various serological, biochemical and functional assays and the data were discussed in Edinburgh on 2–6 September 1983.