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Antibodies can initiate lung injury in a variety of disease states such as autoimmunity, in reactions to transfusions, or after organ transplantation, but the key factors determining in vivo pathogenicity of injury-inducing antibodies are unclear. Harmful antibodies often activate the complement cascade. A model for how IgG antibodies trigger complement activation involves interactions between IgG Fc domains driving the assembly of IgG hexamer structures that activate C1 complexes. The importance of IgG hexamers in initiating injury responses was not clear, so we tested their relevance in a mouse model of alloantibody- and complement-mediated acute lung injury. We used 3 approaches to block alloantibody hexamerization (antibody carbamylation, the K439E Fc mutation, or treatment with domain B from staphylococcal protein A), all of which reduced acute lung injury. Conversely, Fc mutations promoting spontaneous hexamerization made a harmful alloantibody into a more potent inducer of acute lung injury and rendered an innocuous alloantibody pathogenic. Treatment with a recombinant Fc hexamer 'decoy' therapeutic protected mice from lung injury, including in a model with transgenic human FCGR2A expression that exacerbated pathology. These results indicate an in vivo role of IgG hexamerization in initiating acute lung injury and the potential for therapeutics that inhibit or mimic hexamerization to treat antibody-mediated diseases., Introduction Antibodies and the complement cascade mediate protective immunity but can both become misdirected to cause harm in autoimmune and alloimmune diseases. Some antibodies direct activation of the complement cascade [...]

Administration of anti-RhD immunoglobulin (Ig) to decrease maternal alloimmunization (antibody-mediated immune suppression [AMIS]) was a landmark clinical development. However, IgG has potent immune-stimulatory effects in other settings (antibody-mediated immune enhancement [AMIE]). The dominant thinking has been that IgG causes AMIS for antigens on RBCs but AMIE for soluble antigens. However, we have recently reported that IgG against RBC antigens can cause either AMIS or AMIE as a function of an IgG subclass. Recent advances in mechanistic understanding have demonstrated that RBC alloimmunization requires the IFN-[alpha]/-[beta] receptor (IFNAR) and is inhibited by the complement C3 protein. Here, we demonstrate the opposite for AMIE of an RBC alloantigen (IFNAR is not required and C3 enhances). RBC clearance, C3 deposition, and antigen modulation all preceded AMIE, and both [CD4.sup.+] T cells and marginal zone B cells were required. We detected no significant increase in antigen-specific germinal center B cells, consistent with other studies of RBC alloimmunization that show extrafollicular-like responses. To the best of our knowledge, these findings provide the first evidence of an RBC alloimmunization pathway which is IFNAR independent and C3 dependent, thus further advancing our understanding of RBCs as an immunogen and AMIE as a phenomenon., Introduction Immunoglobulins are most commonly thought of as immune effector molecules. However, it has been known for over a century that Igs can also substantially enhance primary humoral immunity to [...]

THINKING SCIENTIFICALLY ABOUT SCIENTIFICALLY THINKING Scientifically Thinking: How to Liberate Your Mind, Solve the World's Problems, and Embrace the Beauty of Science By Dr. Stanley A. Rice. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus [...]

Antibodies targeting human leukocyte antigen (HLA)/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins limit successful transplantation and transfusion, and their presence in blood products can cause lethal transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI). It is unclear which cell types are bound by these anti-leukocyte antibodies to initiate an immunologic cascade resulting in lung injury. We therefore conditionally removed MHC class I (MHC I) from likely cellular targets in antibody-mediated lung injury. Only the removal of endothelial MHC I reduced lung injury and mortality, related mechanistically to absent endothelial complement fixation and lung platelet retention. Restoration of endothelial MHC I rendered MHC I-deficient mice susceptible to lung injury. Neutrophil responses, including neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) release, were intact in endothelial MHC I-deficient mice, whereas complement depletion reduced both lung injury and NETs. Human pulmonary endothelial cells showed high HLA class I expression, and posttransfusion complement activation was increased in clinical TRALI. These results indicate that the critical source of antigen for anti-leukocyte antibodies is in fact the endothelium, which reframes our understanding of TRALI as a rapid-onset vasculitis. Inhibition of complement activation may have multiple beneficial effects of reducing endothelial injury, platelet retention, and NET release in conditions where antibodies trigger these pathogenic responses., Introduction Human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins in humans, are frequently the targets of antibodies that are a major barrier to the success of blood transfusion [...]

BACKGROUND. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency decreases the ability of red blood cells (RBCs) to withstand oxidative stress. Refrigerated storage of RBCs induces oxidative stress. We hypothesized that G6PD-deficient donor RBCs would have inferior storage quality for transfusion as compared with G6PD-normal RBCs. METHODS. Male volunteers were screened for G6PD deficiency; 27 control and 10 G6PD-deficient volunteers each donated 1 RBC unit. After 42 days of refrigerated storage, autologous 51-chromium 24-hour posttransfusion RBC recovery (PTR) studies were performed. Metabolomics analyses of these RBC units were also performed. RESULTS. The mean 24-hour PTR for G6PD-deficient subjects was 78.5% [+ or -] 8.4% (mean [+ or -] SD), which was significantly lower than that for G6PD-normal RBCs (85.3% [+ or -] 3.2%; P = 0.0009). None of the G6PD-normal volunteers (0/27) and 3 G6PD-deficient volunteers (3/10) had PTR results below 75%, a key FDA acceptability criterion for stored donor RBCs. As expected, fresh G6PD-deficient RBCs demonstrated defects in the oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway. During refrigerated storage, G6PD-deficient RBCs demonstrated increased glycolysis, impaired glutathione homeostasis, and increased purine oxidation, as compared with G6PD-normal RBCs. In addition, there were significant correlations between PTR and specific metabolites in these pathways. CONCLUSION. Based on current FDA criteria, RBCs from G6PD-deficient donors would not meet the requirements for storage quality. Metabolomics assessment identified markers of PTR and G6PD deficiency (e.g., pyruvate/lactate ratios), along with potential compensatory pathways that could be leveraged to ameliorate the metabolic needs of G6PD-deficient RBCs. TRIAL REGISTRATION. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04081272. FUNDING. The Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant 71590, the National Blood Foundation, NIH grant UL1 TR000040, the Webb-Waring Early Career Award 2017 by the Boettcher Foundation, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grants R01HL14644 and R01HL148151., Introduction Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is one of the most common therapeutic interventions for hospitalized patients (1). In particular, chronic transfusions are essential for patients with sickle cell disease [...]

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) represents a cure for nonmalignant hematological disorders. However, compared with the stringent conditioning regimens used when performing BMT to treat hematological malignancies, the reduced intensity conditioning regimen used in the context of nonmalignant hematological disorders leads to substantially higher rates of BMT rejection, presumably due to an intact immune system. The relevant patient population typically receives transfusion support, often including platelets, and the frequency of BMT rejection correlates with the frequency of transfusion. Here, we demonstrate that immunity to transfused platelets contributes to subsequent BMT rejection in mice, even when the BMT donor and recipient are MHC matched. We used MHC-matched bone marrow because, although immunity to transfused platelets is best characterized in relation to HLA-specific antibodies, such antibodies are unlikely to play a role in clinical BMT rejection that is HLA matched. However, bone marrow is not matched in the clinic for minor histocompatibility antigens, such as those carried by platelets, and we report that transfusion of minor histocompatibility antigen-mismatched platelets induced subsequent BMT rejection. These findings indicate previously unappreciated sequelae of immunity to platelets in the context of transplantation and suggest that strategies to account for minor histocompatibility mismatching may help to reduce the chance of BMT rejection in human patients., Introduction Patients who have bone marrow failure syndromes are typically given supportive care, including transfusions of rbc and platelets (PLTs). Some marrow failure patients subsequently undergo bone marrow transplantation (BMT) [...]

Author(s): James C. Zimring (corresponding author) [1]; Steven L. Spitalnik [2] Voltaire wrote in 1772, 'the best is the enemy of the good', warning against the fallacy that something is [...]