Anti-HLA antibodies in regenerative medicine stem cell therapy

Research on stem cell therapies for regenerative medicine is progressing rapidly. Although the use of autologous stem cells is a tempting choice, there are several instances in which they are either defective or not available in due time. Allogenic stem cells derived from healthy donors presents a promising alternative. Whether autologous or allogenic, recent advances have proven that stem cells are not as immune privileged as they were thought. Therefore understanding the interactions of these cells with the recipient immune system is paramount to their clinical application. Transplantation of stem cells induces humoral as well as cellular immune response. This review focuses on the humoral response elicited by stem cells upon their administration and consequences on the survival and maintenance of the graft. Current transplantation identifies pre- and post-transplantation anti-HLA antibodies as immune rejection and cell signaling effectors. These two mechanisms are likely to operate similarly in the context of SC therapeutics. Ultimately this knowledge will help to propose novel strategies to mitigate the allogenic barriers. Immunogenetics selection of the donor cell and immunomonitoring are key factors to allow the implementation of regenerative stem cell in the clinics.