Publications by authors named "Andreas M Farkas"

Article Synopsis
  • Humoral immunity, particularly the production of donor-specific antibodies (DSA), plays a crucial role in limiting successful long-term outcomes in organ transplantation. Antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) is a significant issue associated with these DSAs.
  • Recent studies indicate that IgE, often associated with allergy, is produced during allograft rejection and could contribute to understanding ABMR, as its presence is noted even in low concentrations compared to IgG.
  • A new sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed to measure MHC-specific IgE, alongside functional tests using cell lines, to explore its role in transplant rejection and distinguish antibody specificities.
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Background: Donor-specific antibodies of the IgG isotype are measured routinely for diagnostic purposes in renal transplant recipients and are associated with antibody-mediated rejection and long-term graft loss.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether MHC-specific antibodies of the IgE isotype are induced during allograft rejection.

Methods: Anti-MHC/HLA IgE levels were measured in sera of mice grafted with skin or heart transplants from various donor strains and in sera of kidney transplant patients with high levels of HLA IgG.

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Transfer of recipient regulatory T cells (Tregs) induces mixed chimerism and tolerance in an irradiation-free bone marrow (BM) transplantation (BMT) model involving short-course co-stimulation blockade and mTOR inhibition. Boosting endogenous Tregs pharmacologically would be an attractive alternative avoiding the current limitations of performing adoptive cell therapy in the routine clinical setting. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) potently inhibits Treg differentiation and its blockade was shown to increase Treg numbers .

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In 2008, the European Union introduced the Advanced Medicines Regulation aiming to improve regulation of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). We applied the ATMPs classification definitions in this Regulation to understand the link of this emerging group of medicinal products and the use of the Orphan Regulation. A total of 185 products that can be classified as ATMPs based on this Regulation have been submitted for orphan designation.

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Central clonal deletion has been considered the critical factor responsible for the robust state of tolerance achieved by chimerism-based experimental protocols, but split-tolerance models and the clinical experience are calling this assumption into question. Although clone-size reduction through deletion has been shown to be universally required for achieving allotolerance, it remains undetermined whether it is sufficient by itself. Therapeutic Treg treatment induces chimerism and tolerance in a stringent murine BM transplantation model devoid of myelosuppressive recipient treatment.

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Background: Therapeutic strategies for the prophylaxis of IgE-mediated allergy remain an unmet medical need. Cell therapy is an emerging approach with high potential for preventing and treating immunological diseases. We aimed to develop a cell-based therapy inducing permanent allergen-specific immunological tolerance for preventing IgE-mediated allergy.

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Cell therapy with recipient Tregs achieves engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow (BM) without the need for cytoreductive conditioning (i.e., without irradiation or cytotoxic drugs).

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Kidney transplantation across the ABO blood group barrier was long considered a contraindication for transplantation, but in an effort to increase donor pools, specific regimens for ABO-incompatible (ABOi) transplantation have been developed. These regimens are now widely used as an integral part of the available treatment options. Various desensitization protocols, commonly based on transient depletion of preformed anti-A and/or anti-B antibodies and modulation of B-cell immunity, enable excellent transplant outcomes, even in the long-term.

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Induction of donor-specific tolerance is still considered as the "Holy Grail" in transplantation medicine. The mixed chimerism approach is virtually the only tolerance approach that was successfully translated into the clinical setting. We have previously reported successful induction of chimerism and tolerance using cell therapy with recipient T regulatory cells (Tregs) to avoid cytotoxic recipient treatment.

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Background: The mixed chimerism approach induces donor-specific tolerance in both pre-clinical models and clinical pilot trials. However, chronic rejection of heart allografts and acute rejection of skin allografts were observed in some chimeric animals despite persistent hematopoietic chimerism and tolerance toward donor antigens in vitro. We tested whether additional cell therapy with regulatory T cells (Tregs) is able to induce full immunologic tolerance and prevent chronic rejection.

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The transplantation of allergens (e.g. Phl p 5 or Bet v 1) expressed on BM cells as membrane-anchored full-length proteins leads to permanent tolerance at the T-cell, B-cell, and effector-cell levels.

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