Review: bioprinting: a beginning

An increasing demand for directed assembly of biologically relevant materials, with prescribed three-dimensional hierarchical organizations, is stimulating technology developments with the ultimate goal of re-creating multicellular tissues and organs de novo. Existing techniques, mostly adapted from other applications or fields of research, are capable of independently meeting partial requirements for engineering biological or biomimetic structures, but their integration toward organ engineering is proving difficult. Inspired by recent developments in material transfer processes operating at all relevant length scales--from nano to macro--which are amenable to biological elements, a new research field of bioprinting and biopatterning has emerged. Here we present a short review regarding the framework, state of the art, and perspectives of this new field, based on the findings presented at a recent international workshop.     

Characterization of three new HLA-B alleles: B*35:05:03, B*52:29 and B*57:01:13

Three new HLA-B alleles were identified during routine sequence-based typing.     

Association of HLA-G*01:01:02:01/G*01:04:01 polymorphism with gastric adenocarcinoma

Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) plays an important role in tumor cell escape from immune surveillance and HLA-G polymorphisms might service as a potential risk factor for clinical outcomes in GAC (gastric adenocarcinoma). We investigated the association between HLA-G polymorphisms as well as soluble HLA-G level and accordance of GAC. This case-control study included 100 GAC patients and 102 unrelated Iranian individual’s samples as control. The clinical stages ranged from I to IV. PCR-RFLP method was carried out in order to specify the genotypes of the HLA-G gene. Concentrations of sHLA-G in serum were determined with the sHLA-G-specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The G*01:04:01 and G*01:01:02:01 alleles were the predominant alleles in GAC patients and healthy controls. The G*01:01:03:01 and G*01:01:08 allele distributions are significantly higher among controls comparing to cases and seem to have protective effect (P value = 0.026 and 0.007 respectively). There is a substantial differences in G*01:01:02:01/G*01:04:01 genotype frequencies between cases and controls (OR = 2.8, P value < 0.001). The G*01:01:03:01/G*01:04:01 and G*01:01:02:01/G*01:01:08 genotypes frequency are higher among controls in comparison to patients (P value = 0.028 and 0.007 respectively). The polymorphisms in HLA-G could affect GAC induction and its outcome. Also, increased sHLA-G levels in serum might be a useful biomarker for diagnosis.     

Two novel HLA-A alleles: HLA-A*31:01:09 and HLA-A*33:30

The HLA-A*31:01:09 differs from the closest allele HLAA*31:01:02 by a C to T silent substitution at position 447 in exon 3. The HLA-A*33:30 differs from the closest allele HLA-A*33:03:01 by a single nucleotide substitution at position 453 in exon 3, leading to a change of Arg 131 Cys.     

Surgery: Microlaparoscopy: a preliminary report

A series of 30 microlaparoscopies performed under local anaesthesiaand sedation are presented. The visualization of the pelvicorgans was acceptable and the patients reported mild discomfortonly. Microlaparoscopy may potentially replace macrolaparoscopyin selected cases.     

Characterization of four new HLA alleles: HLA-B*15:01:18, HLA-B*44:110, HLA-C*04:01:22 and HLA-DQB 1*05:14

We describe four novel HLA alleles, HLA-B*15:01:18, HLA-B*44:110, HLA-C*04:01:22 and HLA-DQB1*05:14.