Erxi Wu, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, co-wrote the article, "Target of the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis mobilizes autologous hematopoietic stem cells and prolongs islet allograft survival via PD-L1-mediated immunoregulation,” which will be published by The Journal of Immunology.
According to the authors, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are reported to have profound immunomodulatory effects, promoting their use in the treatment of allograft rejection. However, the immunoregulatory properties of HSCs and their importance in organ transplantation remain to be explored.
This study, led by collaborator Dr. Paolo Fiorina from Children’s Hospital Boston, presents evidence demonstrating that targeting the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis mobilizes autologous HSCs and promotes long-term survival of islet allografts.
“This study aimed to target the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis by blocking the CXCR4 receptor with a novel CXCR4 antagonist to mobilize HSCs in a murine model of islet transplantation. The approach used in the study could have major clinical applications, given that CXCR4 antagonists (i.e. Mozobil/Plexifor) currently are under investigation in a phase III trial to improve engraftment in bone marrow-transplanted patients,” Wu said.
The Journal of Immunology is published by The American Association of Immunologists and is cited more than any other immunology journal. It ranks first among all publications focused on immunology in terms of eigenfactor and ranks 18th among all publications focused on immunology in terms of impact factor. For these figures and more, visit www.jimmunol.org/site/misc/infoforauthor.xhtml#journalfacts.
Wu joined the pharmaceutical sciences department at NDSU in December 2008. Prior to joining NDSU, he was a faculty member at Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School.