Immune rejection remains the major obstacle to long-term survival of allogeneic lung transplants. The expression of major histocompatibility complex molecules and minor histocompatibility antigens triggers allogeneic immune responses that can lead to allograft rejection. Transplant outcomes therefore depend on long-term immunosuppression, which is associated with severe side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic engineering is a promising tool to repair genetic disorders, improve graft function, or reduce immune responses toward allografts. organ perfusion systems have the potential to mitigate ischemic-reperfusion injury, prolong preservation time, or even rescue organ function. We aim at combining both technologies to develop a modular platform allowing the genetic modification of vascularized composite (VC) allografts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFXenotransplantation of pancreatic islets offers a promising alternative to overcome the shortage of allogeneic donors. Despite significant advances, either immune rejection or oxygen supply in immune protected encapsulated islets remains major bottlenecks for clinical application. To decrease xenogeneic immune responses, we generated tissue engineered swine leucocyte antigen (SLA)-silenced islet cell clusters (ICC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrgan gene therapy represents a promising tool to correct diseases or improve graft survival after transplantation. Polymorphic variation of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens remains a major obstacle to long-term graft survival after transplantation. Previously, we demonstrated that MHC-silenced cells are protected against allogeneic immune responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow haemocompatibility of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) surfaces necessitates anticoagulative therapy. Endothelial cell (EC) seeding can support haemocompatibility, however, the availability of autologous ECs is limited. In contrast, allogeneic ECs are readily available in sufficient quantity, but HLA disparities induce harmful immune responses causing EC loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn contrast to the whole liver, primary hepatocytes are highly immunogenic. Thus, alternative strategies of immunomodulation after hepatocyte transplantation are of special interest. Silencing of HLA class I expression is expected to reduce the strength of allogeneic immune responses and to improve graft survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisparities at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens and associated minor antigens trigger harmful immune responses, leading to graft rejection after transplantation. We showed that MHC-silenced cells and tissues are efficiently protected against rejection. In complex vascularized organs, the endothelium is the major interface between donor and recipient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, platelet-derived growth factors present in lysates became an extreme interest in the field of regenerative medicine such as in wound healing and as substitutes to foetal bovine serum in xeno-free cell culture systems. However, the generation of such platelet lysates completely depends on the availability of platelet donors. In this study, the possibility to use in vitro-generated megakaryocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a cell source for typical platelet growth factors was investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta
October 2015
The acidic nuclear phosphoproteins (ANP32A-H) are an evolutionarily conserved family of proteins with diverse and sometimes opposing cellular functions. Here we show that the oncogenic family members ANP32C and ANP32D are associated in complexes containing the molecular chaperone Hsp90. The oncogenic ANP32C protein appears to be highly unstable with a rapid degradation (t1/2>30 min) occurring upon treatment of cells with cycloheximide.
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