American Society of Histocompatibility Continuing Education Credits

With 2014 coming to a close, ASHI would like to wish its members, partners and other industry professionals a very safe and happy holiday season.

As we reflect on the past year, we would like to provide ASHI Insights subscribers with a look at the most-read news stories.

Your regular news publication will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015.

We are proud to announce the 2015 Regional Education Workshops National Faculty Manish Gandhi, M.D. Mayo Clinic Anne M. Halpin, MS, MA University of Alberta Hospital Carolyn Hurley, Ph.D., D(ABHI) Georgetown University Medical Center John L. Schmitz, Ph.D., D(ABMLI, ABHI) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Registration opens February 2015.
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ASHI Quarterly goes digital!

In an effort to go green and embrace new communication technologies, the ASHI Quarterly will now be available in digital format, easily accessible via computer, tablet or mobile device. Login to the members only section and click on the ASHI Quarterly tab. Then click on the volume number to view the new digital format.

Now is the time to renew your 2015 ASHI membership online

Doing so today so will help to avoid interruption accessing the ASHI Quarterly & ASHI-U for continuing education credits. Your Human Immunology subscription can also be renewed at this time.

Renew now.

ASHI University
As part of our mission, ASHI strives to be foremost authority and leading educational resource in immunogenetics and histocompatibility. The ASHI University curriculum will be a valuable resource to technicians, technologists, directors, clinicians, coordinators and educators.

As a Society, we embrace the opportunity to provide education to our members. Non-members may also access ASHI U. and gain credits for a nominal fee. Wait until you see the information available at your fingertips! ASHI U. is a great way to earn continuing education credits online by reading the content in the modules and taking the quizzes. ASHI members have free access to modules and quizzes!

Not a member? Join today!

Benefits of membership

• All members receive a subscription to the ASHI Quarterly, the President's Newsletter and access to the on-line Membership Directory.
• All members except International Associates receive discounted prices when purchasing ASHI publications including the Laboratory Manual.
• All members are eligible for CE credits from the ASHI Quarterly quiz free of charge.
• All members are eligible for discounted registration fees at ASHI's annual meeting and regional education workshops.
• All members have free access to ASHI University (a web-based text and video curriculum providing comprehensive standardized information on topics relevant to the fields of histocompatibility and immunogenetics).
• Full, Technologist, Student/Fellow & Emeritus members receive the additional benefit of an online subscription to ASHI's monthly scientific journal, Human Immunology. A print subscription to the journal may be purchased for an additional fee of $30.
• Student/Fellow members will have a further discounted price for the annual meeting registration.

Role of anti-vimentin antibodies in allograft rejection
Human Immunology via ScienceDirect
From June 3: Production of anti-vimentin antibodies after solid organ transplantation are common. Although classically thought to be expressed mainly within the cytosol, recent evidence demonstrates that extracellular or cell surface expression of vimentin is not unusual. This review examines the evidence to assess whether AVA contribute to allograft pathology. Clinical studies suggest that AVA are associated with cardiac allograft vasculopathy in heart transplant recipients.

Six-locus high resolution HLA haplotype frequencies derived from mixed-resolution DNA typing for the entire US donor registry
Human Immunology via ScienceDirect
From June 3: Six-locus high resolution HLA A∼C∼B∼DRB3/4/5∼DRB1∼DQB1 haplotype frequencies were calculated using all Be The Match Registry volunteer donors typed by DNA methods at recruitment. Mixed resolution HLA typing data was inputted to a modified expectation–maximization algorithm in the form of genotype lists generated by interpretation of primary genomic typing data to the IMGT/HLA v3.4.0 allele list. The full cohort consists of 6.59 million subjects categorized at a broad race level.

Graft-host tolerance in bone marrow transplant chimeras — absence of graft-versus-host disease is associated with unresponsiveness to minor histocompatibility antigens expressed by all tissues
American Society of Hematology
From July 29: Because bone marrow (BM) transplantation is used with increasing frequency, it is important to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the establishment of tolerance to host minor histocompatibility antigens (MIHA) in recipients transplanted with T-cell-undepleted marrow grafts. Scientists have previously shown that BM chimeras transplanted across MiHA barriers showed specific unresponsiveness to MiHA expressed on recipient-type concanavalin A blasts. Because expression of many MiHA is tissue-specific, scientists wanted to determine if chimera T-lymphocytes would be tolerant to MiHA expressed by all host tissues and organs.

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Pediatric celiac disease more common with HLA haplotype
Medscape (free subscription)
From July 15:Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype DR3-DQ2 is associated with dosage-dependent increases in risk for celiac disease autoimmunity and celiac disease in young children, according to a study published in the July 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Although most patients with celiac disease have at least 1 copy of DR3-DQ2 or DR4-DQ8, these haplotypes are also common in the general population. DR3-DQ2 carries a higher risk than DR4-DQ8.

Age-dependent HLA profiles of the Israeli population: Impact on hematopoietic cell donor recruitment and availability
Immunogenetics
From Sept. 23: Approximately three million people have immigrated to the state of Israel since it was founded. Consequently, the immunogenetic profile of the younger generation may consist of a genetic mixture of formerly distinct population groups. Scientists aimed to investigate whether HLA profiles in the Israeli population are age dependent and how this influences representation of various age groups in local donor registries.

HLA dosage effect in narcolepsy with cataplexy
Immunogenetics
From Oct. 21: Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a sleep disorder caused by the loss of hypocretin-producing neurons in the hypothalamus. It is tightly associated with a specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-allele: HLA-DQB1*06:02. Based on this, an autoimmune process has been hypothesized. A functional HLA-DQ molecule consists of a DQα and a DQβ chain. HLA-DQB1*06:02 has a strong preference for binding to HLA-DQA1*01:02, and together they form the functional DQ0602 dimer.

Minor histocompatibility antigens as risk factor for poor prognosis in kidney transplantation
Transplantation Proceedings (subscription required)
From Aug. 26: Progress in transplantation has relied on similar human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching between the donor and the patient, while the role of other immunologic factors like non-HLA markers including minor histocompatibility antigens (miHA) are currently in the forefront. miHA are polymorphic proteins that vary even in monozygotic twins. The best known is the H-Y antigen, but there are also other autosomal miHA and MICA. miHA have been extensively studied in transplantation of hematopoietic precursors, but not in solid organ transplantation.

Genetic variants linked to rare but serious clozapine side effect
Psychiatric News
From Oct. 7: An international collaboration identifies rare variants in two human leukocyte antigen genes associated with agranulocytosis risk in people taking this antipsychotic. It almost sounds like a Zen riddle: if a medication is effective, but no one uses it, is it really a good drug? That is the conundrum facing the schizophrenia drug clozapine.

Natural killer cells battle pediatric leukemia
Oncology Nurse Advisor
From Sept. 9: Researchers have shown that a select team of immune-system cells from patients with leukemia can be multiplied in the laboratory, creating an army of natural killer cells that can be used to destroy the cancer cells. Results of their in vitro study, published in Leukemia, could one day provide a less toxic and more effective way to battle this cancer in children.

New potential biomarker for Alzheimer's discovered
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
From Aug. 12: Scientists from the Boston University School of Medicine say they have found variants in a new gene, PLXNA4, which may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The discovery of this novel genetic association may lead to new drug treatment options that target PLXNA4 specifically, according to the researchers whose findings appear in the Annals of Neurology.

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Source: https://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/ashihla/ASHIHLA123014.php

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