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The mechanisms underlying maintenance of renal allografts in humans under minimal or conventional immunosuppression are poorly understood. There is evidence that CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells and clonal deletion, among other mechanisms of tolerance, could play a key role in clinical allograft survival. Twenty-four TCR-Vβ families were assessed in CD4+ CD25−, CD4+ CD25low and CD4+ CD25high T cells from patients with long-term renal allograft survival (LTS), patients exhibiting chronic rejection (ChrRx), patients on dialysis (Dial) and healthy controls (HC) by flow cytometry. LTS patients presented a higher variability in their TCR-Vβ repertoire, such decreased percentage of Vβ2+, Vβ8a+ and Vβ13+ in CD4+ CD25low and high compared with CD4+ CD25− subset and increased Vβ4 and Vβ7 families in CD4+ CD25high T cells exclusively. Additionally, LTS patients, particularly those that were not receiving calcineurin inhibitors (CNI), had increased percentages of CD4+ CD25high T cells when compared with Dial ( P < 0.05) and ChrRx ( P < 0.05) patients. Our results suggest that a differential expression of particular TCR-Vβ families and high levels of circulating CD4+ CD25high T cells in long-term surviving renal transplant patients could contribute to an active and specific state of immunologic suppression. However, the increase in this T cell subset with regulatory phenotype can be affected by CNI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells, the most powerful antigen-presenting cells, are important for triggering of the immune responses to allo-antigens. However, they also play a fundamental role in the peripheral tolerance maintenance. Tolerance is enhanced by the presence on the dendritic cell surface of the inhibitor receptors ILT3 and ILT4. They recruit protein tyrosine-phosphatases to their ITIM domains and inhibit antigen-presenting cell activation, leading T cell hypo-responsivensess. Moreover, these receptors favor a bidirectional interaction with T-suppressor and T-regulator cells, generating an antigen-specific immunoregulator cascade, in which the dendritic cell behaves as a tolerogenic cell. In the current review, analysis is centered on the biology and behavior of the tolerogenic dendritic cells that express high levels of ILT3 and ILT4. Some molecular and genetics aspects of these receptors are discussed as well as their importance in the modulation of the allo-specific antigen immune response to transplants.

Introduction: Genetic characterization of the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) system has provided insights into mechanisms of susceptibility to diverse diseases and immunological phenomena during pregnancy, as well as providing evidence for compatibility in the selection of organ transplant donors and recipients., Objective: The HLA-A,-B,-DRB1 allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies were determined in deceased organ donors in Medellín, Colombia., Materials and Methods: The genotypes of 926 deceased donors were evaluated over a 17-year period (1989- 2006). HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 typing was performed by sequence specific primer-polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR). Maximum likelihood frequencies were estimated by the zipper version of expectation maximation algorithm. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were determined by an exact test analogous to Fishers test by using Markovs chain, and linkage disequilibrium between pairs of loci., Results: Twenty-two, 43 and 14 alleles were identified for HLA-A, -B and -DRB loci, respectively. The most frequent were A*02, A*24, B*35, and DRB1*04. A deficiency in the proportion of heterozygotes in HLA-A and B loci (p<0.01 and p<0.00001, respectively). The most frequent haplotypes were as follows: HLA-A*24, B*35 (7.7%) for HLA-A,-B; HLA-B*35, DRB1*04 (6.4%) for HLA-B,-DRB1 and HLA-A*24, DRB1*04 (8.9%) for HLA-A,-DRB1. For the 3 loci HLA-A,-B,-DRB1, the most frequent haplotypes were A*24, B*35, DRB1*04 (4.6%) and A*24, B*61, DRB1*04 (2.0%)., Conclusions: These results confirm the three-ethnic ancestry of the Medellin population. The predominance of Caucasian admixture differs from many other Latin-American populations and can serve as a reference for comparative studies of these populations as well as applications within the Medellin population.