These studies emphasize the limitations of in vitro colony assays utilizing heterogeneous cell populations for the identification of cell-cell interactions that may involve genetic restriction. Obviously, different strategies are required to determine if Class II molecules have any role, alone or in combination with other determinants, in mediating hematopoietic cell-cell interactions. In this report, we present preliminary data derived from two approaches designed to address this issue. First, clonal cell lines developed to mimic Class II expression of normal precursors have been used to study structure-function relationships of HLA-D region gene products. Second, the lymphocyte adhesion assay has been adopted to study binding of precursors to marrow stroma. We hypothesize that the strategies should make it possible to identify hematopoietic cell-cell interactions and determine to what extent Class II molecules participate in these interactions.