7 research outputs found
Immune Regulation after Heart Transplantation: Dynamics of regulatory T cells in the transplanted heart and peripheral blood
Heart transplantation has become a rapidly evolving therapy for end-stage heart failure. To reduce the risk of rejection of the transplanted organ, patients are treated with immunosuppressive therapy. However, as immunosuppressive drugs carry severe side effects, true transplant tolerance (i.e., long-lasting nonreactivity of the immune system to donor antigens in the absence of immunosuppressive drugs) is a major goal in transplantation research. T-cell-mediated regulation of donor-reactive cells is one of the mechanisms that may be involved in the induction and maintenance of graft acceptance after organ transplantation. The identification and characterization of regulatory T cells that can control the anti-donor immune reactivity has therefore become the focus of many studies. Research in experimental transplant models has demonstrated that these regulators are important for the prevention of allograft rejection and the induction of transplant tolerance.1!
-4 Yet, it remains to be elucidated whether regulatory T cells control anti-donor immune reactivity in immunosuppressed organ transplant patients, thereby inducing and maintaining donor-specific nonresponsiveness. The central aim of this thesis was to investigate the role of regulatory T cells in the control of immune responses directed to the transplanted graft of heart transplant patients. We focused on two compartments where functional regulatory T cells may be present, i.e. the transplanted heart and the peripheral blood. Our studies demonstrated that various regulatory T-cell populations present in these compartments play a role in immunological processes, such as immunological quiescence and acute cellular rejection
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Sensitization in transplantation: Assessment of risk (STAR) 2019 Working Group Meeting Report.
The purpose of the STAR 2019 Working Group was to build on findings from the initial STAR report to further clarify the expectations, limitations, perceptions, and utility of alloimmune assays that are currently in use or in development for risk assessment in the setting of organ transplantation. The goal was to determine the precision and clinical feasibility/utility of such assays in evaluating both memory and primary alloimmune risks. The process included a critical review of biologically driven, state-of-the-art, clinical diagnostics literature by experts in the field and an open public forum in a face-to-face meeting to promote broader engagement of the American Society of Transplantation and American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics membership. This report summarizes the literature review and the workshop discussions. Specifically, it highlights (1) available assays to evaluate the attributes of HLA antibodies and their utility both as clinical diagnostics and as research tools to evaluate the effector mechanisms driving rejection; (2) potential assays to assess the presence of alloimmune T and B cell memory; and (3) progress in the development of HLA molecular mismatch computational scores as a potential prognostic biomarker for primary alloimmunity and its application in research trial design