Human Leucocyte Antigen Sensitisation and Its Impact on Transfusion Practice.

Human leucocyte antigen (HLA) sensitisation, including the formation of antibodies against HLA, can cause serious effects in patients receiving blood. Under certain circumstances, donor HLA antibodies in the blood product can trigger the patient's granulocytes to release mediators that cause transfusion-associated lung injury (TRALI), a serious complication of transfusion. The HLA systems of both donor and patient are involved in transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease, which is a rare disease with a high mortality.

Alpha-synuclein levels in blood plasma decline with healthy aging.

There is unequivocal evidence that alpha-synuclein plays a pivotal pathophysiological role in neurodegenerative diseases, and in particular in synucleinopathies. These disorders present with a variable extent of cognitive impairment and alpha-synuclein is being explored as a biomarker in CSF, blood serum and plasma. Considering key events of aging that include proteostasis, alpha-synuclein may not only be useful as a marker for differential diagnosis but also for aging per se.

HLA antibody specification using single-antigen beads--a technical solution for the prozone effect.

Background: Substantial progress in human leukocyte antigen antibody specification has been made by the introduction of Luminex single-antigen bead (SAB) assays. This progress was impaired when it turned out that this method is prone to a prozone effect leading to false-negative results in the case of high antibody titers. Testing serum and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) plasma of one patient in parallel, we observed the prozone effect with the serum sample only.

Expression of blood group genes by mesenchymal stem cells.

Incompatible blood group antigens are highly immunogenic and can cause graft rejections. Focusing on distinct carbohydrate- and protein-based membrane structures, defined by blood group antigens, we investigated human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) cultured in human serum. The presence of H (CD173), ABO, RhD, RhCE, RhAG, Kell, urea transporter type B (SLC14A1, previously known as JK), and Duffy antigen receptor of chemokines (DARC) was evaluated at the levels of genome, transcriptome and antigen.