Pronase independent flow cytometry crossmatching of rituximab treated patients.

ABO-incompatible (ABOi) kidney transplantation has become an established strategy to increase the number of available living donors. At our center, the conditioning protocol for ABOi patients is based on anti-A/B antibody removal and depletion of B cells with the anti-CD20 mAb rituximab (Mabthera®). It is known that even low amounts of remaining rituximab in serum of patients results in false positive B cell cross match results, masking detection of potentially harmful donor human leukocyte antigen (HLA) specific antibodies.

De Novo Donor-Specific HLA Antibody Formation in Two Patients With Crigler-Najjar Syndrome Type I Following Human Hepatocyte Transplantation With Partial Hepatectomy Preconditioning.

Clinical hepatocyte transplantation is hampered by low engraftment rates and gradual loss of function resulting in incomplete correction of the underlying disease. Preconditioning with partial hepatectomy improves engraftment in animal studies. Our aim was to study safety and efficacy of partial hepatectomy preconditioning in clinical hepatocyte transplantation.

Improved flow cytometry based cytotoxicity and binding assay for clinical antibody HLA crossmatching.

The presence of preformed donor-specific HLA antibodies leads to early antibody mediated kidney allograft rejection. Therefore, detection and avoidance of donor reactive HLA antibodies prior to transplantation is of outmost importance in order to minimize the risk of rejection. Detection of pre-formed HLA antibodies is currently performed using complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) assay alone or together with a flow cytometry based crossmatch (FCXM).

Immunogenicity of decidual stromal cells in an epidermolysis bullosa patient and in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients.

Allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are widely used in regenerative medicine, but little is known about their immunogenicity. In this study, we monitored the therapeutic and immunogenic effects of decidual stromal cells (DSCs) from term placentas when used as a therapy for generalized severe junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) (previously termed Herlitz JEB), a lethal condition caused by the lack of functional laminin-332. An 11-month-old JEB patient was treated with five infusions of allogeneic DSCs within a 3-month period.

Long-term functional duration of immune responses to HCV NS3/4A induced by DNA vaccination.

We have investigated the ability of hepatitis C virus non-structural (NS) 3/4A-DNA-based vaccines to activate long-term cell-mediated immune responses in mice. Wild-type and synthetic codon optimized (co) NS3/4A DNA vaccines have previously been shown to be immunogenic in mice, rabbits and humans, although we have very poor knowledge about the longevity of the immune responses primed. We therefore analyzed the functionality of primed NS3/4A-specific immune responses in BALB/c (H-2(d)) and/or C57BL/6J (H-2(b)) mice 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12 and 16 months after the last immunization.