In this issue: transplant immunology and transplant biology.
Transplantation faces an unprecedented shortage of organs available for transplantation, resulting in longer waiting times and transplant candidates on the waiting list dying before getting a transplant. This dramatic situation triggered the search for new approaches and innovations to increase the donor pool, such as extending the acceptance criteria concerning donor age or organ transplantation across blood group barriers. Herein, leading experts detailed the immunological and molecular concepts behind the successful clinical translation of these strategies. Organ rejection remains a constant challenge and transplantation tolerance is still elusive as the current paradigm aims for immunosuppression rather than immune modulation. Two contributions in this issue review two different molecular paradigms in harnessing the immunologic response after transplantation. The interplay between the intestinal innate and adaptive immunity is particularly intricate and the intestine remains the organ with the highest rate of acute rejection after transplantation. Experts in the field summarized both time-honored and recent knowledge in intestinal preservation and tolerance in intestinal transplantation with potential for further basic and translational research.
1University Department for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Hand Surgery, Evangelisches Krankenhaus, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University , Oldenburg , Germany.
Lucian P
LP
Jiga
Mihai
M
Oltean
D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D014181:Transplantation Immunology / Q000276:immunology*
blood groups; immunobiology; intestine; organ transplantation