Analysis of alloantisera against bovine lymphocytes. Joint report of the 1st International Bovine Lymphocyte Antigen (BoLA) Workshop

Summary The results and agreements of the 1st international BoLA workshop, held in Edinburgh, Scotland in August 1978, are reported. Most of these concern the results from a comparison test of 249 alloantisera to bovine lymphocytes, the antisera being contributed by 9 laboratories. These sera were compared directly in Edinburgh on a panel of lymphocytes from 130 cattle of 21 breeds. In the micro-lymphocytotoxicity test used 75% of the sera reacted. Sixty eight of these sera were grouped into clusters according to their reaction patterns against the lymphocyte panel. Eleven of these clusters were clearly defined and were given workshop BoLA designations. In addition 22 sera were assigned to subgroups of the agreed clusters. There was no evidence that the method of production of the sera had any effect on their specificity. Although genetic data was not available, the phenotypes of the test panel of lymphocytes are consistent with the clusters detecting antigens controlled by multiple alleles at a single autosomal locus. It was agreed to name the genetic region where this putative locus is located BoLA (bovine lymphocyte antigen).