title: Mesenchymal stem cells for inducing tolerance in organ transplantation.
abstract: Organ transplantation is useful for treating the end stage of organ failure. The induction of tolerance to the transplanted organ is essential for its long-term survival. Immunologic tolerance can be induced by immunosuppressive agents and mixed chimerism. Mixed chimerism is a state in which both recipient-and donor-derived blood cells remain in the hematopoietic system after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells have been transplanted. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and immune cells such as dendritic cells and T-reg cells play an important role in the induction of tolerance. MSCs secrete cytokines, which modulate the immune response. In particular, they upregulate T-reg cell function and thereby induce tolerance. Intra-bone marrow-bone marrow transplantation recruits both donor-derived HSCs and MSCs, inducing persistent donor-specific tolerance without the use of immunosuppressants. In this review, we summarize the use of MSCs to induce tolerance in organ transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Disease, Beijing Anzhen Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Kequan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell Disorders, Kansai Medical University Hirakata City, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikehara
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Disease, Beijing Anzhen Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
keywords: bone marrow transplantation; mesenchymal stem cells; mixed chimerism; organ transplantation; tolerance