Proposed Mechanisms of Transfusion-Induced Immunomodulation

Proposed model: mechanisms of immunomodulation induced by probiotic bacteria.

Deleterious clinical effects of transfusion-associated immunomodulation: fact or fiction?

Allogeneic blood transfusion results in the infusion into the recipient of large amounts of foreign antigens in both soluble and cell-associated forms. The persistence of these antigens in the circulation of the recipient may create conditions that allow the development of immune down-regulation. Evidence from a variety of sources indicates that allogeneic blood transfusion enhances the surviva...

Transfusion-induced immunomodulation and its possible role in cancer recurrence and perioperative bacterial infection.

Over the last decade, it has become evident that homologous transfusions carry immunologic consequences beyond the well-understood ones of alloimmunization to blood cell antigens. Transfusions constitute temporary transplants of large amounts of allogeneic antigen given intravenously and cause down-regulation of many cellular immune functions. These changes may explain in part the association o...

Deleterious consequences of allogeneic blood transfusion on postoperative infection: really a transfusion-related immunomodulation effect?

The purported deleterious effect of transfusion-related immunomodulation (TRIM) on postoperative infection and its prevention by leukoreduction of transfused blood are a matter of great controversy among transfusion medicine specialists. In a recent review on this issue,1 Vamvakas and Blajchman pointed out that current evidence supporting a beneficial effect of leukoreduction is inconclusive be...

The Mechanisms of Immunomodulation in Acupuncture

Multiple recent studies have highlighted the role of bioelectric signals in large-scale pattern formation in the body’s spatial structure and organs, and in organ phylogenesis and ontogenesis, during embryogenesis and regeneration [1-5]. These signals form one layer of physiological control and work in conjunction with biochemical and genetic pathways [6-10]. The bioelectrical state of cells an...