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Sartoris S, Del Pozzo G. Exploring the HLA complex in autoimmunity: From the risk haplotypes to the modulation of expression. Clin Immunol 2024; 265:110266. [PMID: 38851519 DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2024.110266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2024] [Revised: 05/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
The genes mapping at the HLA region show high density, strong linkage disequilibrium and high polymorphism, which affect the association of HLA class I and class II genes with autoimmunity. We focused on the HLA haplotypes, genomic structures consisting of an array of specific alleles showing some degrees of genetic association with different autoimmune disorders. GWASs in many pathologies have identified variants in either the coding loci or the flanking regulatory regions, both in linkage disequilibrium in haplotypes, that are frequently associated with increased risk and may influence gene expression. We discuss the relevance of the HLA gene expression because the level of surface heterodimers determines the number of complexes presenting self-antigen and, thus, the strength of pathogenic autoreactive T cells immune response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Sartoris
- Dept. of Medicine, Section of Immunology University of Verona School of Medicine, Verona, Italy
| | - Giovanna Del Pozzo
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics "Adriano Buzzati Traverso" National Research Council (CNR), Naples, Italy.
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Tong K, Meng Y, Zhang L, Lei X, Liu Q, Guan X, Yu J, Dou Y. Risk factors and survival outcomes in children with early cardiotoxicity after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Ann Hematol 2024; 103:2485-2497. [PMID: 38709259 DOI: 10.1007/s00277-024-05787-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
Cardiotoxicity in children is a potentially fatal complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT); therefore, early identification of risk factors can improve patient prognosis. However, there are few data on the clinical characteristics of early-stage cardiotoxicity in children after allo-HSCT. We conducted a retrospective single-center study of pediatric patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) between January 2016 and December 2022 at the Children's Hospital Affiliated with Chongqing Medical University to evaluate the clinical characteristics of early cardiac events (ECEs) after allo-HSCT and their impact on survival outcomes. We enrolled 444 patients who underwent allo-HSCT-304 males (68%) and 140 females (32%)-with a median age of 3.3 years (1.8-6.5 years) at transplantation. We found that 73 patients (16.4%) had ECEs after allo-HSCT. The ECEs included valvular disease (n = 46), pericardial effusion (n = 38), arrhythmia (n = 9), heart failure (n = 16), and dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 1). Female sex, age ≥ 6 years, body mass index (BMI) < 16 kg/m2 and HLA-type mismatches were risk factors for ECEs. We designed a stratified cardiac risk score that included these risk factors, and the higher the score was, the greater the cumulative incidence of ECEs. The occurrence of an ECE was closely associated with a lower overall survival (OS) rate and greater nonrelapse mortality (NRM). In addition, stratified analysis based on the number of combined ECEs showed that the greater the number of combined ECEs was, the more significant the negative impact on OS rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Tong
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yan Meng
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Luying Zhang
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaoying Lei
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Qihui Liu
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xianmin Guan
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jie Yu
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Ying Dou
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
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Naidoo L, Arumugam T, Ramsuran V. Narrative Review Explaining the Role of HLA-A, -B, and -C Molecules in COVID-19 Disease in and around Africa. Infect Dis Rep 2024; 16:380-406. [PMID: 38667755 PMCID: PMC11049896 DOI: 10.3390/idr16020029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has left a devasting effect on various regions globally. Africa has exceptionally high rates of other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and malaria, and was not impacted by COVID-19 to the extent of other continents Globally, COVID-19 has caused approximately 7 million deaths and 700 million infections thus far. COVID-19 disease severity and susceptibility vary among individuals and populations, which could be attributed to various factors, including the viral strain, host genetics, environment, lifespan, and co-existing conditions. Host genetics play a substantial part in COVID-19 disease severity among individuals. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) was previously been shown to be very important across host immune responses against viruses. HLA has been a widely studied gene region for various disease associations that have been identified. HLA proteins present peptides to the cytotoxic lymphocytes, which causes an immune response to kill infected cells. The HLA molecule serves as the central region for infectious disease association; therefore, we expect HLA disease association with COVID-19. Therefore, in this narrative review, we look at the HLA gene region, particularly, HLA class I, to understand its role in COVID-19 disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Naidoo
- School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa; (L.N.); (T.A.)
| | - Thilona Arumugam
- School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa; (L.N.); (T.A.)
| | - Veron Ramsuran
- School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa; (L.N.); (T.A.)
- Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa
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Mizutani A, Suzuki S, Shigenari A, Sato T, Tanaka M, Kulski JK, Shiina T. Nucleotide alterations in the HLA-C class I gene can cause aberrant splicing and marked changes in RNA levels in a polymorphic context-dependent manner. Front Immunol 2024; 14:1332636. [PMID: 38327766 PMCID: PMC10847315 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1332636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Polymorphisms of HLA genes, which play a crucial role in presenting peptides with diverse sequences in their peptide-binding pockets, are also thought to affect HLA gene expression, as many studies have reported associations between HLA gene polymorphisms and their expression levels. In this study, we devised an ectopic expression assay for the HLA class I genes in the context of the entire gene, and used the assay to show that the HLA-C*03:03:01 and C*04:01:01 polymorphic differences observed in association studies indeed cause different levels of RNA expression. Subsequently, we investigated the C*03:23N null allele, which was previously noted for its reduced expression, attributed to an alternate exon 3 3' splice site generated by G/A polymorphism at position 781 within the exon 3. We conducted a thorough analysis of the splicing patterns of C*03:23N, and revealed multiple aberrant splicing, including the exon 3 alternative splicing, which overshadowed its canonical counterpart. After confirming a significant reduction in RNA levels caused by the G781A alteration in our ectopic assay, we probed the function of the G-rich sequence preceding the canonical exon 3 3' splice site. Substituting the G-rich sequence with a typical pyrimidine-rich 3' splice site sequence on C*03:23N resulted in a marked elevation in RNA levels, likely due to the enhanced preference for the canonical exon 3 3' splice site over the alternate site. However, the same substitution led to a reduction in RNA levels for C*03:03:01. These findings suggested the dual roles of the G-rich sequence in RNA expression, and furthermore, underscore the importance of studying polymorphism effects within the framework of the entire gene, extending beyond conventional mini-gene reporter assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akiko Mizutani
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
- Faculty of Health and Medical Science, Teikyo Heisei University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shingo Suzuki
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Atsuko Shigenari
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Tadayuki Sato
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Masafumi Tanaka
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Jerzy K Kulski
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
- School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia
| | - Takashi Shiina
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
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Tong K, Meng Y, Zhang L, Lei X, Guan X, Xiao L, Yu J, Dou Y. Retrospective study of risk factors for pericardial effusion after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children. Hematology 2023; 28:2245259. [PMID: 37551721 DOI: 10.1080/16078454.2023.2245259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The clinical characteristics, risk factors and survival prognosis of pericardial effusion (PE) after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in children were investigated. METHODS Clinical data of children who underwent HSCT at the Children's Hospital Affiliated with Chongqing Medical University from January 2016 to December 2022 were analysed retrospectively. Cox proportional hazards regression and the Kaplan-Meier method were used to analyse the risk factors for post-HSCT PE and its impact on outcomes, respectively. RESULTS We enrolled 452 patients with HSCT: 307 males and 145 females, with a median age of 3.4 (1.8 to 6.5) years at transplantation. Forty-five patients (10%) had PE within a median time of 25 (10.5 to 44) days, 42 (93%) within 100 days. Three patients with large PE were treated with pericardiocentesis and drainage, while the others were treated conservatively. Of the 45 patients with PE, 24 survived, and their PE disappeared after treatment. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) grade, abnormal pre-HSCT electrocardiogram, hepatic veno-occlusive disease (HVOD), pulmonary infection and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection were risk factors for PE. The overall survival (OS) rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 86.0%, 84.2%, and 82.3%, respectively. PE had a significant negative effect on OS after HSCT (P < 0.0001). Particularly, one patient with large PE died of pericardial tamponade. CONCLUSIONS Post-HSCT PE usually occurred within 100 days. GVHD grade, abnormal pre-HSCT electrocardiogram, HVOD, pulmonary infection and EBV infection were closely related to PE. PE had a significant negative effect on OS rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Tong
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yan Meng
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Luying Zhang
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaoying Lei
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xianmin Guan
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Li Xiao
- Big Data Center for Children's Medical Care, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jie Yu
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Ying Dou
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
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Aguiar VRC, Castelli EC, Single RM, Bashirova A, Ramsuran V, Kulkarni S, Augusto DG, Martin MP, Gutierrez-Arcelus M, Carrington M, Meyer D. Comparison between qPCR and RNA-seq reveals challenges of quantifying HLA expression. Immunogenetics 2023; 75:249-262. [PMID: 36707444 PMCID: PMC9883133 DOI: 10.1007/s00251-023-01296-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and II loci are essential elements of innate and acquired immunity. Their functions include antigen presentation to T cells leading to cellular and humoral immune responses, and modulation of NK cells. Their exceptional influence on disease outcome has now been made clear by genome-wide association studies. The exons encoding the peptide-binding groove have been the main focus for determining HLA effects on disease susceptibility/pathogenesis. However, HLA expression levels have also been implicated in disease outcome, adding another dimension to the extreme diversity of HLA that impacts variability in immune responses across individuals. To estimate HLA expression, immunogenetic studies traditionally rely on quantitative PCR (qPCR). Adoption of alternative high-throughput technologies such as RNA-seq has been hampered by technical issues due to the extreme polymorphism at HLA genes. Recently, however, multiple bioinformatic methods have been developed to accurately estimate HLA expression from RNA-seq data. This opens an exciting opportunity to quantify HLA expression in large datasets but also brings questions on whether RNA-seq results are comparable to those by qPCR. In this study, we analyze three classes of expression data for HLA class I genes for a matched set of individuals: (a) RNA-seq, (b) qPCR, and (c) cell surface HLA-C expression. We observed a moderate correlation between expression estimates from qPCR and RNA-seq for HLA-A, -B, and -C (0.2 ≤ rho ≤ 0.53). We discuss technical and biological factors which need to be accounted for when comparing quantifications for different molecular phenotypes or using different techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vitor R. C. Aguiar
- Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP Brazil ,Division of Immunology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA ,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Erick C. Castelli
- Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics Laboratory, Experimental Research Unit, School of Medicine, São Paulo State University, Botucatu, SP Brazil
| | - Richard M. Single
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT USA
| | - Arman Bashirova
- Basic Science Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD USA ,Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA
| | - Veron Ramsuran
- Basic Science Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD USA ,Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA ,Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa ,School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Smita Kulkarni
- Basic Science Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD USA ,Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA ,Host-Pathogen Interactions Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX USA
| | - Danillo G. Augusto
- Basic Science Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD USA ,Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA ,Department of Biological Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC USA ,Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR Brazil
| | - Maureen P. Martin
- Basic Science Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD USA ,Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA
| | - Maria Gutierrez-Arcelus
- Division of Immunology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA ,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Mary Carrington
- Basic Science Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD USA ,Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA ,Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Diogo Meyer
- Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP Brazil
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