The 8th Banff Conference on Allograft Pathology was held in Edmonton, Canada, 15–21 July 2005. Major outcomes included the elimination of the non‐specific term ‘chronic allograft nephropathy’ (CAN) from the Banff classification for kidney allograft pathology, and the recognition of the entity of chronic antibody‐mediated rejection. Participation of B cells in allograft rejection and genomics markers of rejection were also major subjects addressed by the conference.

53BP1 participates early in the DNA damage response and is involved in cell cycle checkpoint control. Moreover, the phenotype of mice and cells deficient in 53BP1 suggests a defect in DNA repair (Ward et al., 2003b). Therefore, we asked whether or not 53BP1 would be required for the efficient repair of DNA double strand breaks. Our data indicate that homologous recombination by gene conversion does not depend on 53BP1. Moreover, 53BP1-deficient mice support normal V(D)J recombination, indicating that 53BP1 is not required for “classic” nonhomologous end joining. However, class switch recombination is severely impaired in the absence of 53BP1, suggesting that 53BP1 facilitates DNA end joining in a way that is not required or redundant for the efficient closing of RAG-induced strand breaks. These findings are similar to those observed in mice or cells deficient in the tumor suppressors ATM and H2AX, further suggesting that the functions of ATM, H2AX, and 53BP1 are closely linked.

Germinal centers are critical for affinity maturation of antibody (Ab) responses. This process allows the production of high-efficiency neutralizing Ab that protects against virus infection and bacterial exotoxins. In germinal centers, responding B cells selectively mutate the genes that encode their receptors for antigen. This process can change Ab affinity and specificity. The mutated cells that produce high-affinity Ab are selected to become Ab-forming or memory B cells, whereas cells that have lost affinity or acquired autoreactivity are eliminated. Normally, T cells are critical for germinal center formation and subsequent B cell selection. Both processes involve engagement of CD40 on B cells by T cells. This report describes how high-affinity B cells can be induced to form large germinal centers in response to (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl) acetyl (NP)-Ficoll in the absence of T cells or signaling through CD40 or CD28. This requires extensive cross-linking of the B cell receptors, and a frequency of antigen-specific B cells of at least 1 in 1,000. These germinal centers abort dramatically at the time when mutated high-affinity B cells are normally selected by T cells. Thus, there is a fail-safe mechanism against autoreactivity, even in the event of thymus-independent germinal center formation.