title: Telomerase activity in rat liver allografts.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Telomerase activity in grafts may be involved in the alteration of cellular senescence after transplantation or its relevant immunological events.
  
  
  METHODS
  At the age of 20 weeks, donor livers harvested from DA (RT1a) were orthotopically transplanted into PVG (RT1c) or LEW (RT1(1)) rats. Rats having undergone orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT; DA-PVG) naturally overcome rejection, whereas all OLT (DA-LEW) rats die from acute rejection within 14 days. Telomerase activity in liver allografts was measured at various intervals post OLT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At day 7 when the most severe rejection episode was observed in OLT (DA-LEW) and OLT (DA-PVG), the telomerase activity was significantly higher than in syngeneic OLT (DA-DA) rats, in which no rejection occurred. Telomerase activity in tolerogenic OLT (DA-PVG) livers remained elevated for at least 2 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that telomerase activity in allogeneic OLT livers may reflect regenerating hepatocytes or activation of lymphocytes and/or hematopoietic stem cells associated with rejection or tolerance.
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplantation Program, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lord
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitano
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000201:enzymology; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase