Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse reaction to treatment of other conditions.
Autoimmune polyendocrine syndromes (APSs), also called polyglandular autoimmune syndromes (PGASs) or polyendocrine autoimmune syndromes (PASs), are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases characterized by autoimmune activity against more than one endocrine organ, although non-endocrine organs can be affected. There are three types of APS, and there are a number of other diseases which involve endocrine autoimmunity.
Alloimmunity is an immune response to nonself antigens from members of the same species, which are called alloantigens or isoantigens. Two major types of alloantigens are blood group antigens and histocompatibility antigens. In alloimmunity, the body creates antibodies against the alloantigens, attacking transfused blood, allotransplanted tissue, and even the fetus in some cases. Alloimmune (isoimmune) response results in graft rejection, which is manifested as deterioration or complete loss of graft function. In contrast, autoimmunity is an immune response to the self's own antigens. Alloimmunization (isoimmunization) is the process of becoming alloimmune, that is, developing the relevant antibodies for the first time.
Nature Reviews Genetics is a monthly review journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 2000 and covers the full breadth of modern genetics. The editor-in-chief is Linda Koch. The journal publishes review and perspective articles written by experts in the field subject to peer review and copy editing to provide authoritative coverage of topics. Each issue also contains Research Highlight articles – short summaries written by the editors that describe recent research papers.
Jan Klein is a Czech-American immunologist, best known for his work on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). He was born in 1936 in Stemplovec, Opava, Czech Republic. He graduated from the Charles University at Prague, in 1955, and received his M.S. in botany from the same school in 1958. He was a teacher at the Neruda High School in Prague from 1958 to 1961. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1965, and moved to Stanford University as a postdoctoral fellow the same year. He became assistant professor in 1969, and associate professor in 1973 at the University of Michigan. He assumed the position of professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1975. From 1977 to his retirement in 2004, he was the director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie at Tübingen, Germany. He is currently a Frances R. and Helen M. Pentz Visiting Professor of Science and adjunct professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University.
Immunogenetics or immungenetics is the branch of Medical Immunology and Medical Genetics that explores the relationship between the immune system and genetics.
An attenuated vaccine is a vaccine created by reducing the virulence of a pathogen, but still keeping it viable. Attenuation takes an infectious agent and alters it so that it becomes harmless or less virulent. These vaccines contrast to those produced by "killing" the virus.
HLA-A*02 (A*02) is a human leukocyte antigen serotype within the HLA-A serotype group. The serotype is determined by the antibody recognition of the α2 domain of the HLA-A α-chain. For A*02, the α chain is encoded by the HLA-A*02 gene and the β chain is encoded by the B2M locus. In 2010 the World Health Organization Naming Committee for Factors of the HLA System revised the nomenclature for HLAs. Before this revision, HLA-A*02 was also referred to as HLA-A2, HLA-A02, and HLA-A*2.
The Annual Review of Genetics is an annual peer-reviewed scientific review journal published by Annual Reviews. It was established in 1967 and covers all topics related to the genetics of viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, including humans. The current editor is Tatjana Piotrowski. As of 2023, Journal Citation Reports gives the journal a 2022 impact factor of 11.1, ranking it eighth out of 171 journals in the category "Genetics & Heredity".
Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) began as a list of antigens identified as a result of transplant rejection. The antigens were initially identified by categorizing and performing massive statistical analyses on interactions between blood types. This process is based upon the principle of serotypes. HLA are not typical antigens, like those found on surface of infectious agents. HLAs are alloantigens, they vary from individual to individual as a result of genetic differences. An organ called the thymus is responsible for ensuring that any T-cells that attack self proteins are not allowed to live. In essence, every individual's immune system is tuned to the specific set of HLA and self proteins produced by that individual; where this goes awry is when tissues are transferred to another person. Since individuals almost always have different "banks" of HLAs, the immune system of the recipient recognizes the transplanted tissue as non-self and destroys the foreign tissue, leading to transplant rejection. It was through the realization of this that HLAs were discovered.
Human Genetics is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of human genetics, including legal and social issues. It was established in 1964 by Arno Motulsky and Friedrich Vogel as the German-language Humangenetik, obtaining its current title in 1976. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media. Its editors-in-chief are David N. Cooper and Thomas J. Hudson. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2018 impact factor of 5.20.
Human Immunology is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier. This journal features original research articles, review articles and brief communications on the subjects of immunogenetics, cellular immunology and immune regulation, and clinical immunology, and is the journal of the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI).
Alloantigen recognition refers to immune system recognition of genetically encoded polymorphisms among the genetically distinguishable members of same species. Post-transplant recognition of alloantigens occurs in secondary lymphoid organs. Donor specific antigens are recognized by recipient’s T lymphocytes and triggers adaptive pro-inflammatory response which consequently leads to rejection of allogenic transplants. Allospecific T lymphocytes may be stimulated by three major pathways: direct recognition, indirect recognition or semidirect recognition. The pathway involved in specific cases is dictated by intrinsic and extrinsic factors of allograft and directly influence nature and magnitude of T lymphocytes mediated immune response. Furthermore, variant tissues and organs such as skin or cornea or solid organ transplants can be recognized in different pathways and therefore are rejected in different fashion.
Janine Deakin is a professor at the University of Canberra and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology. She is a geneticist with expertise in the areas of comparative genomics, epigenetics, genetic immunology and genome structure and regulation. A majority of her work has focused on the Australian marsupials and monotremes where her cytogenetic and molecular research on marsupial chromosomes and development of strategies to map genomes has provided important insight into the evolution of mammalian genomes.
Keiko Ozato is a Japanese American geneticist whose research has focused on gene regulation in the developing immune system; She is best known for her contributions to immunogenetics and epigenetics in isolating the IRF8 transcription factor that aids humans in fighting off disease and for identifying the BRD4 protein that regulates cellular and viral genes that can invoke epigenetic memory. She is Senior Investigator at the Section on Molecular Genetics of Immunity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland and a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Katherine Belov is an Australian geneticist, professor of comparative genomics in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Pro Vice Chancellor of Global Engagement at the University of Sydney. She is head of the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group and research expert in the area of comparative genomics and immunogenetics, including Tasmanian devils and koalas, two iconic Australian species that are threatened by disease processes. Throughout her career, she has disproved the idea that marsupial immune system is primitive, characterized the South American gray short-tailed opossum's immune genes, participated in the Platypus Genome Project, led research identifying the properties of platypus venom, and identified the cause of the spread of the Tasmanian devil's contagious cancer.
Immunology & Cell Biology is an academic journal of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology covering basic immunology research. The journal has a focus on cellular immunology, innate and adaptive immunity, immune responses to pathogens, tumour immunology, immunopathology, immunotherapy, immunogenetics and immunological studies in humans and model organisms. The journal was founded in 1924 as the Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, and was converted in 1987 to Immunology and Cell Biology, making it one of the oldest speciality immunology journals in existence. Major historical contributions including publication by Donald Metcalf of the strategy for identifying colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) and the development of the clonal selection theory by Frank Macfarlane Burnet, in a series of more than 90 publications in the 1970s.
Narinder Kumar Mehra is an Indian immunologist, head of the department of transplant immunology and immunogenetics of the SRL Limited, Gurgaon. He is a former dean of research and holds the ICMR Dr. C.G. Pandit National Chair at AIIMS. An elected fellow of the International Medical Sciences Academy, The World Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India, Mehra is known for his research on histocompatibility and immunogenetics. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 1992. He received the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit from François Mitterrand in 2003.
Moinak Banerjee is an Indian researcher, who is presently working as a scientist at Human Molecular Genetics laboratory of Neurobiology division in Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He had been the President of Indian society of Human Genetics and also been the Vice President of Association of DNA Fingerprinting and Associated Technologies. His main area of research involves deciphering molecular pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders employing genetics, pharmacogenetics, immunogenetics and epigenetics approaches. His research group was the pioneer in addressing the genetic structure of Kerala population. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) A, B and C allelic diversity based studies from his lab showed that Dravidian tribal communities were distinct from the other ethnic populations globally. He also postulated a crypto‐Dravidian origin of non-tribal communities of Kerala, as there were traces of genetic admixture with the Mediterranean, western European, central Asian and East Asian populations. Population genetic studies were carried out using non-functional markers, such as microsatellite markers, and functional markers like immunogenetic markers, Pharmacogenomic genes and epigenetic genes. Some of his work has been translated in regional languages to reach wider audience by other authors [5,6,7]. He strongly supports the opinion that population genetics forms the foundation for disease genetic studies.
