Background: Alloantibodies, especially anti-human leukocyte antigen antibodies (HLA antibodies), and autoantibodies, as angiotensin II type 1 receptor antibodies (AT1R antibodies), may complicate the access and the course of transplantation. Pregnancy is a known source of HLA antibodies, with most studies evaluating pregnancy-induced sensitization by complement-dependent cytotoxicity assays, mainly after childbirth. AT1R antibodies have been evaluated in the context of preeclampsia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The original SARS-CoV-2 vaccination regimen (2 doses) induces insufficient short-term response in kidney transplant (KT) recipients. This study assessed the response to a third dose and the long-term immunogenicity after 2 doses in KT.
Methods: We analyzed the dynamics of the humoral and cellular response by monitoring SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies against the Spike-protein (IgG-Spike) and QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 IFN-γ release assay 6 mo after the second dose (T2) and 28 d after the third dose of mRNA vaccines (T3) to KT and controls (dialysis patients and healthy individuals).
Studies are urgently needed to characterize immunogenicity, efficacy, and safety of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccines in kidney transplant (KT) recipients, excluded from major clinical trials. Complex ELISPOT and other cellular response techniques have been applied, but simpler tools are needed. An easy-to-use real-world monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies against the Spike protein and QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 IFNγ release assay (IGRA) were performed at baseline and 28 days after the second dose in KT recipients and controls (dialysis patients and healthy ones).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To validate intracellular cytokine production functional assay as means of cell-mediated immunity monitoring of post-transplant patients with opportunistic infection (OI).
Methods: Intracellular cytokine-producing CD4 and CD8 T-cell monitoring was carried out in 30 liver transplant (LTr) and 31 kidney transplant (KTr) recipients from 2010 to 2012. Patients were assessed in our Department of Immunology at the Clinical University 'Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca-IMIB' in Murcia, Spain for one year following transplantation.
The introduction of anti-calcineurin-based therapies has led to an increase in the one-year survival as well as graft function rates in patients undergoing solid organ transplantation (SOT). Nonetheless, early cellular acute rejection (EAR) incidence still remains a major challenge that irrevocably heads to poor outcomes. The mechanisms underlying CD4 T cell activation in SOT are still under research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmunological molecules are implicated in inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; Crohn disease [CD] and ulcerative colitis [UC]). Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are also genetically variable proteins involved in immune function. They are expressed by NK cells and certain T lymphocytes, regulate specificity and function by interaction with HLA Class I molecules, may be either inhibitory or activating and are polymorphic both in terms of alleles and haplotype gene content.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report three interesting cases concerning antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), associated or not with anti-donor-specific antibodies, and detection of implicated molecular epitopes. The first report presents a case of intra-allele sensitization. The second case presents an interesting case concerning Luminex mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) levels considered to be low risk antibodies (<1000), but producing AMR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report an interesting case concerning an irreversible antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), associated with anti-HLA-C DSA, which occurred after a second kidney transplantation despite having determined a low number of antibodies directed against HLA-C antigens (MFI<1000) in the previous transplantation (which was then considered to be an indicator of low risk of AMR). A 63-year-old woman was re-transplanted with pre-transplant (PrT) sensitization. On day 7 post-transplantation, oligoanuria occurred and increased MFIs for the detected PrT antibodies and other antibodies (non-detected or detected with very low PrT MFI) were observed.
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