Donor cell chimerism permitted by immunosuppressive drugs: a new view of organ transplantation.
One line of thought in organ transplantation feels that immunosuppressive drugs can lead to tolerance induction by allowing a previously unrecognized common mechanism of cell migration and microchimerism to occur, persist, and in some cases, become drug independent. It has been recognized that there is a spectrum of susceptibility of different organs to cellular rejection and that the variable ability of these organs to induce donor-specific nonreactivity reflects their comparative content of migratory leukocytes. Here, Thomas Starzl and colleagues discuss how many of the enigmas of transplantation immunology can be explained by this chimerism.
Starzl
T E
TE
University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Center, PA 15213.
Demetris
A J
AJ
Murase
N
N
Thomson
A W
AW
Trucco
M
M
Ricordi
C
C
D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D002678:Chimera / Q000276:immunology*; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D014019:Tissue Donors
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents