HLA-DPB1 molecular mismatches are risk factors for acute rejection and low 5-year graft function in first kidney transplants.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of HLA-DPB1 allelic and molecular mismatches on the occurrence of acute rejection (AR) and low 5-year graft function (5Y-GF) in first kidney transplant (KT) recipients. This is a single center retrospective study of 130 deceased donor KT recipients transplanted between 2014 and 2016. HLA-DPB1 allelic MM and the following molecular MM (mMM) were analyzed: expression MM with the high expression G allele in the donor; T cell epitope MM (TCE MM); epitope MM (EMM), considering all six hypervariable regions (EMM-ABCDEF HVR), or only ABEF regions (EMM-ABEF HVR); eplet MM (EpMM); antibody-verified eplet MM (AbVer EpMM); and solvent accessible amino acid MM (SAMM).

Identification of the novel HLA-A*68:250 allele in a volunteer bone marrow donor from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The allele HLA-A*68:250 differs from HLA-A*68:27:01 by three nucleotides.

HLA-B*15:04:04, a novel HLA allele identified during proficiency testing in Brazil.

HLA-B*15:04:04 differs from HLA-B*15:04:01 by one nucleotide at codon 238 (gat > gac).

The HLA-A*02:481 allele was identified in unrelated Brazilians sharing HLA-B*15:17, C*07:01P, DRB1*13:02 and DQB1*06:04.

HLA-A*02:481 differs from HLA-A*02:01:01:01 by one nucleotide and was found in four unrelated Brazilians.

HLA class II alleles and chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

The aim of this study was to investigate association of human leucocyte antigens (HLA)-DRB1 and DQB1 polymorphisms with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and with the occurrence of severe liver fibrosis/cirrhosis in chronically infected patients. Ninety-nine white patients, from southeast Brazil, with confirmed HCV chronic infection were included in the study. Severe fibrosis/cirrhosis (METAVIR scores F3-F4) was present in 49 patients.

Identification of a novel HLA-B*52 allele in a Brazilian individual: B*52:21.

HLA-B*52:21 differs from the closest, HLA-B*52:01:02, by two nucleotides (CTG → TGG), leading to an amino acid substitution from Leu to Trp at codon 156.

Identification of two novel HLA-B alleles in the Brazilian population: B*4509 and B*5212.

Human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B*4509 differs from the closest HLA-B*4502 by three nucleotides that lead to changes of Tyr113His, Asn114Asp and Phe116Ser. HLA-B*5212 differs from HLA-B*520101 by a single nucleotide substitution, leading to a change of Asn114Asp.

[HLA polymorphism in a racially admixed sample of the population of Teresina, Piauí].

Objective: To establish the frequencies of HLA-A, B, DRB1 and DQB1 specificities in a racially admixed sample of the city of Teresina, Piauí to characterize its genetic composition.

Methods: Polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) were used to determine HLA-A, B, DRB1 and DQB1 specificities of 97 unrelated healthy racially admixed people of Teresina. The genotypic frequencies were estimated and compared to those described in samples of Brazilian Caucasian, Portuguese, Black and Amerindian populations using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA).

Interleukin-2 gene polymorphism is associated with renal but not cardiac transplant outcome.

It was recently shown that IL-2 gene single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position -330 (G-->T) is related to in vitro cytokine production levels, with the T/T and T/G genotypes being associated with low production and the G/G genotype associated with high production. The objective of this study was to investigate a possible influence of this polymorphism on renal and cardiac allograft outcomes. IL-2 SNP G-T (-330) was determined by PCR-RFLP in 67 recipients of heart allografts and in 63 recipients of renal grafts from HLA-haplo-identical, related donors.

Blood and intragraft CD27 gene expression in cardiac transplant recipients.

The present study investigated gene expression of costimulatory molecule CD27 in relation to the occurrence of acute cardiac rejection. CD27 transcripts were measured by means of quantitative competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in 120 endomyocardial biopsies and in 89 samples of blood mononuclear cells from 31 recipients. Higher levels of CD27 transcripts were observed in biopsies with rejection than in samples without rejection (medians, 7.

Associations between cytokine gene polymorphisms and recurrent pregnancy loss.

Since certain cytokines may play a role in unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and also some cytokine gene polymorphisms may affect the level of cytokine production, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between RPL and polymorphisms of the genes coding for TNF-alpha (-308 G-->A), IL-10 (-1082 G-->A), IL-6 (-174 G-->C), and IFN-gamma (+874 A-->T). Genotyping was performed in 48 RPL women and 108 ethnically matched healthy individuals. In addition, we performed a meta-analysis encompassing the present results and those from studies on the association of TNF-alpha, IL-10 and IFN-gamma polymorphisms with RPL published in the literature until December 2001.

Monitoring of intragraft and peripheral blood TIRC7 expression as a diagnostic tool for acute cardiac rejection in humans.

T-cell immune response cDNA 7 (TIRC7) is a recently described T-cell costimulatory molecule that exhibits a central role in T-cell activation in vitro and in vivo. The present study was undertaken to investigate association between intragraft and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) TIRC7 mRNA levels and cardiac allograft rejection in humans. TIRC7 gene expression levels were determined by a quantitative-competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (QC-RT-PCR) in endomyocardial biopsies and in PBMC from cardiac transplant recipients.