Jon van Rood: The pioneer and his personal view on the early developments of HLA and immunogenetics

Abstract

A single observation in a patient with an unusual transfusion reaction led to a life-long fascination with immunogenetics, and a strong wish to improve the care for patients needing a transplantation. In 2017, Jon van Rood, one of the pioneers in the field of HLA and immunogenetics of transplantation, passed away. Several obituaries have appeared describing some of the highlights of his career. However, the details of the early developments leading among others to the routine use of HLA as an important parameter for donor selection in organ- and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are largely unknown to the community. After his retirement as Chair of the Department of Immunohaematology and Blood Transfusion (IHB) in 1991, Jon van Rood wrote regularly in the "Crosstalk", the departmental journal, and gave his personal view on the history of the discovery and implications of HLA. These autobiographic descriptions were originally written in Dutch and have been translated, while texts from other sources and the relevant references have been added to illustrate the historical perspective. This special issue of Transplant Immunology combines the autobiographic part, Jon's own version of the history, with other facts of his scientific life and the impact of his findings on the field of clinical transplantation. Hopefully, this knowledge of the history will be of benefit for future developments in transplantation immunology.