The association of narcolepsy with HLA-DQB1*0602 is established in Japanese, African-Americans, European, and North American Caucasians. We examined DRB1, DRB3, DRB4, DRB5, DQA1, and DQB1 in 163 patients with centrally mediated daytime sleepiness (100 with narcolepsy) and 211 Korean controls. In this population, the DQB1*0602 association was always evident in the context of the DRB1*1501-DQA1*0...

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from a genotypically identical family donor is an accepted therapeutic option for homozygous beta-thalassemia. However, only a minority of patients have access to this curative procedure. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of matched unrelated transplants in thalassemia and the possibility of reducing the risk of immunologic complica...

BACKGROUND Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is associated with enzootic bovine leukosis, which is the most common neoplastic disease of cattle. BLV infects cattle worldwide, imposing a severe economic impact on the dairy cattle industry. Recently, we developed a new quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using Coordination of Common Motifs (CoCoMo) primers to measure the provi...

BACKGROUND To investigate the association between severity of acute kidney injury (AKI) and outcome, systemic inflammatory phenotype and HLA genotype in severe sepsis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Prospective multicenter observational study done in 4 intensive care units in two university hospitals. Severe sepsis and septic shock patients with at least 2 organ failures based on the SOFA sco...

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from a genotypically identical family donor is an accepted therapeutic option for homozygous beta-thalassemia. However, only a minority of patients have access to this curative procedure. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of matched unrelated transplants in thalassemia and the possibility of reducing the risk of immunologic complica...

The contribution of the HLA-DRB1, -B3, and -B5 gene products in the recognition of Dermatophagoides spp. (house dust mite) by helper T cells isolated from an atopic individual (HLA-DRw12, DR7; DRw52b) with perennial rhinitis was investigated. Using a panel of histocompatible and histoincompatible accessory cells, the restriction specificity obtained for a long term T cell suggested that a compo...

Acquired T cell immunity is central for protection against infection. However, the immunological consequences of exposing memory T cells to high Ag loads during acute and persistent infection with systemic pathogens are poorly understood. We investigated this by using infection with Anaplasma marginale, a ruminant pathogen that replicates to levels of 10(9) bacteria per ml of blood during acute...

OBJECTIVE The relationship between human leukocyte antigens class II (HLA) and antinuclear antibodies was investigated in Jamaican patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Samples of blood of 82 patients with SLE and 75 healthy controls were tested for antinuclear antibodies using the fluorescent antinuclear antibody (FANA) test, counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) and the Cr...

Objective: Aquaporin 4 (AQP4)-specific autoantibodies in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) are immunoglobulin (Ig)G1, a T cell-dependent Ig subclass, indicating that AQP4-specific T cells participate in NMO pathogenesis. Our goal was to identify and characterize AQP4-specific T cells in NMO patients and healthy controls (HC). Methods: Peripheral blood T cells from NMO patients and HC were examined for...

OBJECTIVE Aquaporin 4 (AQP4)-specific autoantibodies in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) are immunoglobulin (Ig)G1, a T cell-dependent Ig subclass, indicating that AQP4-specific T cells participate in NMO pathogenesis. Our goal was to identify and characterize AQP4-specific T cells in NMO patients and healthy controls (HC). METHODS Peripheral blood T cells from NMO patients and HC were examined for...