Will chronic rejection ever respond to treatment?
In acute allograft rejection, the end-point is irreversible damage of the graft (microvascular) endothelium by inflammatory cells and antibodies, and thrombosis and necrosis of the graft. In chronic rejection a prime manifestation, common to all transplants, is persistant perivascular inflammation and concentric longitudinal allograft arteriosclerosis affecting particularly the first and second order intragraft branches of transplant arteries (Table 1). Thus, to understand the molecular mechanism of chronic rejection, we should know how the immune inflammation regulates vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation.
Häyry
P
P
Transplantation Laboratory, IV Department of Surgery, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Mennander
A
A
D000818:Animals; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology; D015777:Eicosanoids / Q000502:physiology; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D014181:Transplantation Immunology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology
D015777:Eicosanoids