HLA in Health and Disease

Book excerpt: This comprehensive and definitive work succeeds and expands on the highly successful HLA and Disease published in 1994. This new edition has been updated, redesigned and reorganised into three sections making it an invaluable reference. The introductory section summarises current knowledge on the structure, function, genetics and evolution of the HLA system. It clarifies its complex and ever changing nomenclature and discusses the mechanisms underlying disease associations with HLA alleles. The second section deals with the importance of HLA in the context of different clinical specialities. Individual chapters describe the association between HLA polymorphism and each disease. The final section features chapters on current laboratory practice in histocompatibility and tissue typing. HLA in Health and Disease is essential reading for basic and clinical researchers working in immunology and immunogenetics, transplantation medicine and autoimmunity. It will also be of interest to anyone in the fields of rheumatology, diabetology, nephrology, allergy, dermatology, neurology, endocrinology, cancer biology, respiratory medicine, haematology, molecular biology and biochemistry. Key Features Structure, function and genetics of HLA HLA nomenclature Evolution of HLA polymorphisms HLA associations in arthritis and rheumatology, renal disease, neurology, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, respiratory disease, ophthalmology, infections, dermatology and psychiatry HLA and organ transplantation Serological and PCR-based methods in HLA typing Cellular techniques in testing histocompatibility Edited and written by an international panel of experts in the field