Paola Contini 1, Simone Negrini 1, Giorgia Bodini 2, Cecilia Trucchi 3, Gianluca Ubezio 4, Paolo Strada 4, Vincenzo Savarino 2, Massimo Ghio 1, J Clin Apher. 2017 Feb;32(1):49-55.

 Taken together, these findings suggest that the immunosuppressive effects attributed to granulocyte and monocyte apheresis might depend, at least in part, on the sensitivity of activated leucocytes to the bioactivity of sHLA-I molecules.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27080173/

Shoichi Nishise ¹, Yasuhiko Abe ¹, Eiki Nomura ¹, Takeshi Sato ¹, Yu Sasaki ¹, Daisuke Iwano ¹, Makoto Yagi ¹, Kazuhiro Sakuta ¹, Rika Shibuya ¹, Naoko Mizumoto ¹, Nana Kanno ¹, Yoshiyuki Ueno ¹ , Ther Apher Dial. 2015 Aug;19(4):330-5.

In conclusion, CA beads inhibited the release of TGF-β from adsorbed platelets. The biological effects of this reduction of TGF-β release during platelet adsorption to CA beads need further clarification.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26386220/

Massimo Ghio, Giorgia Bodini, Paola Contini, Vincenzo Savarino, Edoardo Savarino Gastroenterology, 2015 148(4), S-698–. doi:10.1016/S0016-5085(15)32367-2 

Background Plasmapheresis is used in immune-mediate disease in order to remove humoral factors and, in addition, to modulate cellular immunity. It has been shown that during aphaeretic centrifugation , whole and/or re-folded soluble HLA class I molecules (sHLAI) bind to the circuit surfaces. Similarly, neutrophils can bind sHLA-I molecules with immunoglobulin-like transcript (ILT) membrane receptors, becoming hereafter sensitive to
the immunomodulation of sHLA-I such as transcriptional and post-transcriptional transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 modulation. On the other hand, TGFβ signaling plays a major role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases and it is known to directly induce Foxp3 expression. Besides, Foxp3 expression has been reported increased in patients who responded to granulocytes apheresis with remission of clinical symptoms. Aim The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate a possible sHLA-I mediated immunomodulation in granulocytes and monocytes apheresis in ulcerative colitis patients who responded to therapy. Methods We prospectively enrolled a total of 10 patients (4M/6F; mean age 49, range 27-73) who achieved clinical remission with GMA. The GMA sessions (5 cycle/session) were performed using Adacolumn device. Instantly before each single apheresis and immediately after each procedure, neutrophils were analyzed for a possible in vivo aftermath of sHLA-I binding with corresponding ligands Ig-like-transcripts. The concentrations of sFasL molecules were determined by double-determinant immunoassay (DDIA) and the concentrations of TGFb1 were determined by double-determinant immunoassays utilizing a commercially available kits. Results Between every GMA cycle a significant upregulation of intracytoplasmic TGFβ1 molecule or TGFβ1-mRNA was observed in neutrophils and CD8+ T lymphocytes drawn along the apheretic therapeutic treatments. In particular, the greatest mean increase was found after the first and the forth GMA cycles (from +1% to +30%). A significant up-regulation of sFasL and TGFβ1 concentrations in plasma was observed along the procedures. Similarly, the mean difference increases in comparison with previous samples were constantly found raising during scheduled blood sampling for both molecules. In CD4+ T lymphocytes, unable to bind sHLA-I, the aphaeretic procedures never induced TGFβ1 modulation Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the immunosuppressive effects following therapeutic apheresis might at least in part depend on activated leukocyte sensitivity to sHLA-I molecule bioactivity.

https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(15)32367-2/pdf