Immunobiology of Transplantation and Alloimmunity – ITA

Topics

• Studies focused on the immune response to transplanted: tissues, biologics, organ, and cellular allografts, as well as hematopoietic stem cells.
• Research investigating the immune mechanisms underlying the activities of immunosuppressive regimens and associated complications. This would include studies focusing on infections in the context of transplant immunosuppression and their impact on transplant outcomes. 
• Immune mechanisms of rejection and therapies for the prevention of rejection. 
• Studies focusing on the immune mechanisms of transplant tolerance and strategies for tolerance induction. This would include pre-transplant therapeutic strategies and adoptive cell therapies for transplant.
• Immune mechanisms of development and strategies for prevention of graft vs. host disease (GVHD). In the context of bone marrow transplant, this would include promotion of graft vs. tumor/leukemia (GVT/GVL) effects. 
• Studies focusing on the mechanisms of immune tolerance during pregnancy.
• Mechanisms of alloactivation, including innate and adaptive immunity, activation of alloreactive T cells and B cell, NK cells and antigen presenting cells and myeloid cells. 

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests with Innate Immunity A (IIDA (81)), Innate Immunity B (IIB), and Adaptive Immunity (AI). Fundamental processes and functions that pertain to immune system regulation and response may be reviewed in IIDA (81), IIB, or AI. Applications proposing to study immunoregulatory processes related to transplantation, transplant tolerance, and immunity may be reviewed in ITA.

There are shared interests with Immunity and Host Defense (IHD). Applications that focus on understanding immune responses to an infectious agent may be reviewed in IHD, whereas applications that focus on understanding the impact of infection with a focus on transplant outcomes (e.g., acute or chronic rejection, tolerance, donor-specific antibodies, allograft biopsies, biomarkers) may be reviewed in ITA. Applications investigating maternal/neonatal immune responses to microbes may be reviewed by IHD, whereas those investigating the mechanisms of immune tolerance during pregnancy may be reviewed in ITA.

There are shared interests with the Mechanisms of Autoimmunity (MAI) regarding diseases that affect induction, maintenance and breaking of immune tolerance. Applications focused on immune tolerance to understand the pathogenesis and prevention of autoimmunity may be reviewed by MAI. Applications proposing to study tolerance mechanisms and autoimmunity in relation to transplantation may be reviewed in ITA. 

There are shared interests with Surgery, Anesthesiology, and Trauma (SAT) in transplantation. Applications proposing to study tissue and organ injury unrelated to immunology may be reviewed in SAT. Applications focusing on addressing the immune mechanisms of, and immune responses to, transplant injury, and immune modulation to improve transplantation outcomes may be reviewed in ITA. 

There are shared interests with Cellular Immunotherapy of Cancer (CIC) in transplantation and graft vs. host disease in the context of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Applications that focus on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as a part of cancer treatment and the immune toxicities associated with graft vs. host disease may be reviewed in CIC. Applications that focus on basic transplantation immunology and immune mechanisms of development and strategies for prevention of graft vs. host disease may be reviewed in ITA; applications that include the promotion of graft vs. tumor effects may also be reviewed in ITA.

There are shared interests in kidney transplantation with Kidney and Urological Systems Function and Dysfunction (KUFD). Applications that focus on organ transport and preservation, transport and viability for transplantation including ischemia/reperfusion injury may be reviewed in KUFD. Applications with a greater focus on mechanisms including treatment of allograft rejection may be reviewed in ITA.

There are shared interests with Pregnancy and Neonatology (PN). Applications addressing the maternal/fetal immune-tolerance mechanismsrelated to the physiology of pregnancy and placental development, parturition, and fetal/neonatal development may be reviewed in PN. Applications addressing the mechanisms of immune tolerance towards allogeneic fetal antigens, during early stages of pregnancy, and applications dealing with immune system development in the offspring may be reviewed in ITA. 

There are shared interests with Vaccines Against Infectious Diseases (VID). Applications that focus on general approaches to understand and improve the performance of existing vaccines, and/or immune responses to vaccines, may be reviewed in VID. Applications that focus on the impact of immunosuppressive therapies on immune responses to vaccine and/or vaccine performance may be reviewed in ITA. 

There are shared interests with Translational Investigations of Pulmonary and Immunological Diseases (RCCS (81)). Applications that propose preclinical translational research and clinical trials, including those focusing on interventions in the context of transplantation, may be reviewed in RCCS (81). Applications that involve animal models, human specimens and/or data, or studies with human participants that do not meet the definition of a clinical trial to study the immunology of transplantation such as the mechanisms that lead to tolerance or rejection may be reviewed in ITA.