The HLA Complex in Biology and Medicine: A Resource Book

by Narinder K Mehra, Gurvinder Kaur, James McCluskey, Frank T Christiansen

The book is planned on the format of a ‘multi-author edited book’ carrying detailed and comprehensive information on almost all aspects of the human MHC including its role in immune response, population diversity, organ and bone marrow transplantation and finally as an efficient biomarker for disease. The publication is meant for postgraduate level students and young researchers seeking authentic information on the above aspects. Indeed, a need for such a publication has been felt for a long time and our endeavor has been to provide the reader with updated information on this rapidly growing subject. For this, we recruited a group of established investigators to cover a wide range of topics. The publication has been aptly entitled The HLA Complex in Medicine and Biology: A resource Book with four major sections dealing with immune system in general including the cytokine cascade, general features of the human MHC, including population database and nonclassical HLA molecules, MHC and disease associations and a major section dealing with the transplantation issues. Special chapters deal with the History of HLA and its latest nomenclature as we know of in 2009, as well as the biological significance of minor histocompatibility antigens. Similarly, the book carries a detailed description of the killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) in health, disease and transplantation. Special emphasis has been given to the section on HLA and disease associations covering particularly the autoimmune, mycobacterial and rheumatological diseases. Separate chapters deal with host determinants in HIV-1 infection and involvement of HLA in drug sensitivity. Similarly, the section on transplantation deals not only with HLA matching strategies for long-term graft survival, but more importantly for antibody analysis, cross-matching and post-transplant antibody monitoring. The book has been designed to introduce the young doctor and researcher to comprehend the role of HLA in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and the importance of unrelated donor marrow registries.

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