Hyperacute graft rejection during heart transplantation for giant cell myocarditis: a case report.

We report the case of a patient with giant cell myocarditis who was bridged to transplantation with mechanical circulatory support and developed a fatal perioperative hyperacute rejection. The patient had received abundant transfusions that had raised her anti-HLA antibody titers. The cross-match test was positive.

[Analysis of 516 reports of reactions after the transfusion of labile blood products].

Background: In order to assess the implemented preventive measures of transfusion reactions (TR) and to make a study of residual reactions, we analyzed 516 TR reports from 14 hospitals, for three years since 1996 to 1998.

Methods: Clinical signs were classified according to seven etiologic categories. Systematic anti-erythrocyte and anti-leucocyte detection, as well as bacterial control of the returned bag were performed.

[Types of corneal transplantation: experience and review].

The authors review the 12 cases of matched corneal transplantation, performed at the CHU of Liège between 1991 and 1997. They expose their results together with a summary of the different hypotheses published so far in the field of corneal graft matching.

[The current status of organ transplantation: the role of xenotransplantation?].

In the last few years, transplantation was an area of intense research activity. However, there is a worldwide shortage of donor organs for clinical transplantations. Currently, interest in xenotransplantation research is growing not only because of the increased demand for organs but also because of advances in molecular biology techniques that make possible the genetic or immunological manipulations of the animal donor rather than the human recipient.

[Kaposi's disease in a female patient with acquired HIV-negative immunodeficiency].

A 79-year-old woman of Mediterranean ascent suffered from corticosteroid-dependent chronic obstructive lung disease, hypogammaglobulinemia (IgG 1 and 2), decreased CD16 natural killer cell function and non-HIV related CD4 and CD8 lymphopenia. Such immunodeficiency could be either a variant of common variable immunodeficiency or an early stage of the idiopathic CD4 + T lymphocytopenia syndrome. She developed bilateral lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma on the lower extremities resembling the classic European type of the disease.

HLA-B locus DNA typing: detection of B*7801 and seven additional alleles by BW6-specific exon 2 amplification.

A molecular approach to type a new HLA-B5 antigen, HLA-BSNA, characterized by its unusual association with the public determinant BW6, referred to as B*7801, has been designed. Antigens disclosing serological identity with SNA, BX1 and Te76 were also investigated. Based upon HLA-B exon 2 group-specific PCR, the following procedure was established: 5' and 3' primers were designed by targetting the codons 11-12 (AM) and 81-83 (LRG), respectively, in exon 2 (alpha 1 domain).

Molecular characterization of a recombinant HLA-DR1/DR2 haplotype.

Serologic analysis of two families identified an HLA-DR haplotype in which DR1 and DR2 cosegregated. DNA-RFLP analysis of these families with an HLA-DRB probe revealed a pattern of hybridization suggestive of a recombination between DR1 and DR15. Following amplification, cloning, and nucleotide sequencing of HLA-DRB-gene second-exon DNA sequences, three DRB amplification products associated with the novel haplotype were identified: these corresponded to DRB1*0101, DR2 pseudogene, and DRB5*0101.

Clonally restricted insulin autoantibodies in a cohort of 2200 healthy blood donors.

Serum samples of 2200 blood donors were screened for anti-insulin IgG by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Specificity of detected antibodies was verified by competition with an excess of insulin and observation that saturated anti-insulin IgG were no longer measurable. The upper limit of measured signal in the population was defined as the mean plus three SD.

The spontaneous ability of normal human IgG to inhibit the Fc receptors of normal human monocytes is related to their binding capacity to lectins.

The lectin-binding capacity of 96 normal human IgG, assessed by solid-phase radioimmunoassay, strikingly varied according to the lectin considered. Indeed, half of the IgG samples exhibited peanut agglutinin (PNA)- and pokeweed mitogen-specific binding capacities superior or equal to 4%, whereas less than 15% of IgG similarly bound to concanavalin A (Con A) and to phytohemagglutinin. The ability of those IgG to inhibit the Fc receptor (Fc-R) function of human monocytes, measured by a classical rosette assay, was inversely correlated to their binding ratios to PNA and Con A only.

HL-A and carpal tunnel syndrome.

One hundred and five patients suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome were HL-A typed. No linkage could be demonstrated between HL-A phenotypes and this syndrome.

Positive correlation between breast cancer incidence and HLA antigens.

HLA determinations were made at the time of diagnosis among a lot of 141 patients with breast cancer. Values of relative risk as well as frequencies of antigens at the first and the second locus were confronted to data found in a control population. Subdivisions of the neoplastic population according to hormonal status and parity led to the emergence of significant differences: frequency of A28 in menopausal nulliparous women with breast cancer is 26 vs.

Glomerulonephritis due to transplant rejection affecting a patient's own kidneys.

The kidneys of a patient were removed 3 months after a cadaveric allograft; histological examination revealed tuberculosis and malignant nephroangiosclerosis. When examined one year later, the graft exhibited lesions of glomerulonephritis and of vascular rejection. Immunoglobulin deposits were shown by immunofluorescence in the patient's own kidneys as well as in the graft; they were isolated by acid elution and in both cases had lymphocytotoxic activity in vitro.

[Transfusion of blood with HL-A type. A study with 2,380 donors (author's transl)].

Patients receiving repeated transfusions sooner or later develop an anti-HL-A immunization. To prevent or to delay this immunization by transfusing "deleucocyted" blood appears in the long run, to be a vague hope. So, it became essential to use blood from donors typed for the HL-A system.