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My research interests are in studying the regulation of
immune responses to allogeneic major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
antigens with the goal of controlling these responses in a clinical
setting. Allogeneic MHC antigens can be encountered following
transplantation, transfusion of blood products and during pregnancy. The
potent immune responses to allogeneic MHC molecules can result in
beneficial or detrimental consequences depending on the setting in which
they occur. For example, transfusion of blood products can result in
increased bacterial infection, increased risk of tumor relapse, production
of alloantibodies and sometimes transfusion associated graft versus host
disease but can also induce prolonged survival of organ transplants and is
used to generate anti-leukemia responses and to treat recurrent spontaneous
abortion. The murine model is used for these studies because of the
ability to carefully control donor/recipient combinations and the
availability of transgenic and knockout mice. The recipient responses that
control persistence of allogeneic donor cells have been characterized and
this information is being used to study immunoprotection of the fetus in
pregnancy, establishment of tolerance by establishing chimerism and
suppression of immune responses to allogeneic MHC antigens.
Fast LD, Valeri CR, Crowley JP: Immune responses to major
histocompatibility complex homozygous lymphoid cells in murine F1 hybrid
recipients: Implications for transfusion-associated graft-versus-host
disease. Blood 86:3090-3096, 1995
Fast LD: Recipient CD8+ cells are responsible for the rapid elimination of
allogeneic donor lymphoid cells. Journal of Immunology 157:4805-4810,
1996
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