The increased utility of various species of macaques as animal models in both HIV vaccine development and pathogenesis studies necessitates the continuation of reference MHC typing laboratories for these species. We plan to continue to offer services to both the North American and European scientific community for MHC typing of macaques. Initially, this will include PCR-SSP tests for alleles encoding MHC class I and II molecules that bind peptides derived from SIV and SHIV. We are developing additional molecular techniques for analysis of the Indian rhesus and Chinese rhesus and Cynomolgus macaque MHC class I and class II alleles. Additionally, we will continue to offer training for individual laboratories that wish to set up MHC typing in their own laboratories. Finally, we will continue to develop a panel of well-characterized cell lines that will be invaluable for the analysis of the MHC in the macaque. To date we have typed more than 3,800 macaques for approximately 30 investigators using 27,069 tests. These typings have supported the publication of over 50 manuscripts. The two specific aims of this proposal are, therefore, to: I. Offer MHC typing of the class I and II loci for investigators working with macaques (Indian rhesus, Chinese rhesus and Cynomolgus). II. Adapt technologies for HLA Typing to molecular typing of macaque (Indian rhesus, Chinese rhesus and Cynomolgus) class I and II.
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