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Background and Objectives: Under the ISBT, the Working Party (WP) for Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology is charged with ratifying blood group systems, antigens and alleles. This report presents the outcomes from four WP business meetings, one located in Basel in 2019 and three held as virtual meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021., Materials and Methods: As in previous meetings, matters pertaining to blood group antigen nomenclature were discussed. New blood group systems and antigens were approved and named according to the serologic, genetic, biochemical and cell biological evidence presented., Results: Seven new blood group systems, KANNO (defined numerically as ISBT 037), SID (038), CTL2 (039), PEL (040), MAM (041), EMM (042) and ABCC1 (043) were ratified. Two (039 and 043) were de novo discoveries, and the remainder comprised reported antigens where the causal genes were previously unknown. A further 15 blood group antigens were added to the existing blood group systems: MNS (002), RH (004), LU (005), DI (010), SC (013), GE (020), KN (022), JMH (026) and RHAG (030)., Conclusion: The ISBT now recognizes 378 antigens, of which 345 are clustered within 43 blood group systems while 33 still have an unknown genetic basis. The ongoing discovery of new blood group systems and antigens underscores the diverse and complex biology of the red cell membrane. The WP continues to update the blood group antigen tables and the allele nomenclature tables. These can be found on the ISBT website (http://www.isbtweb.org/working-parties/red-cell-immunogenetics-and-blood-group-terminology/)., (© 2022 International Society of Blood Transfusion.)

Background and Objectives: The International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) Working Party for Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology meets in association with the ISBT congress and has met three times since the last report: at the international meetings held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 2016 and Toronto, Canada, June 2018; and at a regional congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2017 for an interim session., Methods: As in previous meetings, matters pertaining to blood group antigen nomenclature and classification were discussed. New blood group antigens were approved and named according to the serologic and molecular evidence presented., Results and Conclusions: Fifteen new blood group antigens were added to eight blood group systems. One antigen was made obsolete based on additional data. Consequently, the current total of blood group antigens recognized by the ISBT is 360, of which 322 are clustered within 36 blood groups systems. The remaining 38 antigens are currently unassigned to a known system. Clinically significant blood group antigens continue to be discovered, through serology/sequencing and/or recombinant or genomic technologies., (© 2018 International Society of Blood Transfusion.)

Background: Allogeneic donor CCR5 Δ32 homozygous haemopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) provides the only evidence to date of long-term control of HIV infection. However, availability of conventional CCR5 Δ32 homozygous donors is insufficient to develop this as a therapeutic strategy further., Methods: We present a 37-year-old patient with HIV-1 infection and aggressive lymphoma who had disease progression after five lines of radiochemotherapy including an autologous HCT, and in the absence of matched sibling donors, received an allogeneic HCT with four of six HLA-matched CCR5 Δ32 homozygous cord blood cells (StemCyte, Covina, CA), supported with purified CD34+ cells from a haploidentical sibling. Blood or tissue samples were obtained before and weekly after HCT to monitor transplant and HIV infection, including chimerism analysis, CCR5 genotyping and viral tropism, viral isolation and sequence, viral reservoir analysis, immune activation and proliferation, and ex-vivo cell infectivity assays. Combined antiretroviral therapy continued during the procedure., Findings: The patient's HIV was CCR5-tropic by genotypic and phenotypic analyses. Baseline latent reservoir tests showed HIV DNA copies in bulk and resting CD4 T cells and in gut-associated lymphoid tissue, CD4 T-cell-associated HIV RNA, replication competent viral size of 2·1 copies per 10(7) CD4 T cells, and single copy assay of 303 copies per mL. After HCT, plasma HIV DNA load was undetectable by ultrasensitive analyses. Upon cord blood full chimerism, the patient's CCR5 Δ32 homozygous CD4 T cells responded to proliferation and activation stimuli and became resistant to infection by the patient's viral isolate and by laboratory-adapted HIV-1 strains. Death related to lymphoma progression regretfully prevented long-term monitoring of the patient's viral reservoir., Interpretation: CCR5 Δ32 homozygous cord blood reconstitution can successfully eliminate HIV-1 and render the allogeneic graft recipient's T lymphocytes resistant to HIV infection. Thus, they build on the evidence available to strongly support the use of cord blood as a strategic platform for a broader application of non-functional CCR5 transplantation to other infected individuals., Funding: Spanish Secretariat of Research, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR)., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)