A novel approach reveals that HLA class 1 single antigen bead-signatures provide a means of high-accuracy pre-transplant risk assessment of acute cellular rejection in renal transplantation.

Background: Acute cellular rejection (ACR) is associated with complications after kidney transplantation, such as graft dysfunction and graft loss. Early risk assessment is therefore critical for the improvement of transplantation outcomes. In this work, we retrospectively analyzed a pre-transplant HLA antigen bead assay data set that was acquired by the e:KID consortium as part of a systems medicine approach.

BKV Clearance Time Correlates With Exhaustion State and T-Cell Receptor Repertoire Shape of BKV-Specific T-Cells in Renal Transplant Patients.

Reactivation of the BK polyomavirus is known to lead to severe complications in kidney transplant patients. The current treatment strategy relies on decreasing the immunosuppression to allow the immune system to clear the virus. Recently, we demonstrated a clear association between the resolution of BKV reactivation and reconstitution of BKV-specific CD4 T-cells.

The Value of a Rapid Test of Human Regulatory T Cell Function Needs to be Revised.

CD4CD25FoxP3 human regulatory T (T) are promising candidates for reshaping undesired immunity/inflammation by adoptive cell transfer, yet their application is strongly dependent on robust assays testing their functionality. Several studies along with first clinical data indicate T to be auspicious to use for future cell therapies, e.g.

Intravascular Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cell Therapy Product Diversification: Time for New Clinical Guidelines.

Intravascular infusion is the most popular route for therapeutic multipotent mesenchymal stromal/stem cell (MSC) delivery in hundreds of clinical trials. Meta-analysis has demonstrated that bone marrow MSC infusion is safe. It is not clear if this also applies to diverse new cell products derived from other sources, such as adipose and perinatal tissues.

Linking Scattered Stem Cell-Based Data to Advance Therapeutic Development.

The biomedical field has witnessed remarkable advances in analytical tools and technologies that have expanded our understanding of healthy and diseased human tissue and, at the same time, enable extensive molecular characterization of living cells. The volume of scientific data generated is expanding in an unprecedented manner; however, these data remain scattered across research groups worldwide. Access to various data sources in a systematic fashion could hugely benefit the progress of nascent fields such as stem cell-based therapeutics.

High prevalence of Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9-reactive T cells within the adult human population.

The discovery of the highly efficient site-specific nuclease system CRISPR-Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes has galvanized the field of gene therapy. The immunogenicity of Cas9 nuclease has been demonstrated in mice. Preexisting immunity against therapeutic gene vectors or their cargo can decrease the efficacy of a potentially curative treatment and may pose significant safety issues.

BKV, CMV, and EBV Interactions and their Effect on Graft Function One Year Post-Renal Transplantation: Results from a Large Multi-Centre Study.

Background: BK virus (BKV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivations are common after kidney transplantation and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Although CMV might be a risk factor for BKV and EBV, the effects of combined reactivations remain unknown. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the interaction and effects on graft function of these reactivations.