Gene H2

In 1948, Gorer, Lyman and George Snell published a landmark paper (Proc Royal Soc B 4:9i9, 1948) demonstrating that antigen II was identical to the antigen present on tumors of two strains of mice and was the major factor controlling graft acceptance. The gene coding for this antigen was named H₂, where´H´stands for Histocompatibility. The H-2 locus therefore came to be recognized as the Major Histocompatibility Antigen System.