Secondary lymphoid tissue and costimulation-blockade resistant rejection: A nonhuman primate renal transplant study

Naïve T cell activation requires antigen presentation combined with costimulation through CD28, both of which optimally occur in secondary lymphoid tissues such as lymph nodes and the spleen. Belatacept impairs CD28 costimulation by binding its ligands, CD80 and CD86, and in doing so, impairs de novo alloimmune responses. However, in most patients belatacept is ineffective in preventing allograft rejection when used as a monotherapy, and adjuvant therapy is required for control of costimulation-blockade resistant rejection (CoBRR). In rodent models, impaired access to secondary lymphoid tissues has been demonstrated to reduce alloimmune responses to vascularized allografts. Here we show that surgical maneuvers, lymphatic ligation, and splenectomy, designed to anatomically limit access to secondary lymphoid tissues, control CoBRR and facilitate belatacept monotherapy in a nonhuman primate model of kidney transplantation without adjuvant immunotherapy. We further demonstrate that animals sustained on belatacept monotherapy progressively develop an increasingly naïve T and B cell repertoire, an effect that is accelerated by splenectomy and lost at the time of belatacept withdrawal and rejection. These pilot data inform the role of secondary lymphoid tissues on the development of CoBRR and the use of costimulation molecule-focused therapies.

Dimensions of face in Asia in the perspective of geography and prehistory

Data from 24 craniofacial dimensions were compiled for samples representing all the human populations of the world. These were converted into C scores and used to construct Euclidean Distance dendrograms. The populations of the world are best depicted as 8 major regional clusters representing: Africa, Amerind, Asia-Mainland, Australo-Melanesia, Eskimo-Siberia, Europe, India, and Jomon-Pacific. The mainland Asian cluster divided into northern and southern components. The Neolithic in both areas is less clearly associated with the northern or southern components and may represent the form of their undifferentiated precursors. This needs to be tested by the addition of further specimens and an adequate sample from South China. Mongols are peripheral members of the Asia-Mainland cluster and should not be thought of as typifying the region as a whole. The use of the term "Mongoloid" is inappropriate in both theory and practice.