Transplantation Flashcards
What is rejection?
Rejection = damage done by immune system to a transplanted organ
What are the different kinds of transplant?
- Autologous transplant
- Tissue returning to the same individual after a period outside the body, usually in a frozen state
- Syngeneic transplant
- Transplant between identical twins
- Allogeneic transplant
- Between genetically non-identical members of the same species
- Cadaveric transplantation
- Uses organs from dead donor
- Xenogeneic transplant
- Between two different species
- Carries highest risk of rejection
What can transplants be seperated into?
- Solid organ transplantation
- Stem cell transplantation
What are exampels of solid organs that can be transplanted?
- Heart
- Lung
- Liver
- Pancreas
- Cornea
- Trachea
- Kidney
- Most common
- Skin
- Vascular tissue
What is the most common kind of transplant?
Kidney
What criteria must be met before transplantation?
- Good evidence damage is irreversible
- Alternative treatments not applicable
- Disease must not recur
What is the main risk of transplantation?
Rejection
How can the risk of rejection be minimised?
- Donor and recipient must have compatible ABO
- Recipient mist not have anti-donor human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies
- Donor should be selected with as close as possible HLA match to recipient
- Patient must take immunosuppressive treatment
- Varies depending on organ
What are the different kinds of rejection?
- Hyperacute rejection
- Acute rejection
- Chronic rejection
Describe the timing of hyperacute rejection?
- Within hours
Describe the mechanism of hyperacute rejection?
- Preformed antibodies binding to either ABO blood group or HLA class I antigens on graft
- Antibody binding triggers a type II hypersensitive reaction, and graft destroyed by vascular thrombosis
What hypersensitivity is involved in hyperacute rejection?
Type II
How can hyperacute rejection be prevented?
- Careful ABO and HLA cross-matching
Describe the timing of acute rejection?
- Within few days or weeks of transplantation
Describe the mechanism of acute rejection?
- Type IV (cell-mediated delayed hypersensitive reaction
- Donor dendritic cells stimulate an allogeneic response in local lymph node and T cells proliferate and migrate to donor kidney
What hypersensitivity is acute rejection?
Type IV
What is the main cause of acute rejection?
- HLA incompatibility
- Main cause
Describe the timing of chronic rejection?
- Months or years after transplant
What are the causes of chronic rejection?
- Recurrence of pre-existing autoimmune disease
- Recurrence of acute attacks
Describe the mechanism of chronic rejection?
- Element of allogenic rejection, often mediated by T cells, which can result in repeated acute rejection
What are the different phases of graft rejection and what happens?
- Afferent phase
- Donor MHC molecules on ‘passenger leucocytes’ (dendritic cells) within graft are recognised by recipients CD4+ T cells
- Effector phase
- CD4+ T cells recruit effector cells responsible for the tissue damage of rejection
- Macrophages, CD8+ T cells, NK cells and B cells
- CD4+ T cells recruit effector cells responsible for the tissue damage of rejection
What does tolerance in the context of transplantation mean?
In the context of transplantation, means no response to alloantigen’s present on transplanted tissue but responses to pathogens not affected
How is tolerance achieved in transplantation?
Achieved with immunosuppressant drugs:
- Prevent rejection if given at the time of transplantation
- Once stopped, rejection still takes place
- Lacks specificity of true tolerance and thus also prevents immune response to infectious agents
- Opportunist infections are major limit to use of potent immunosuppressive drugs
What is tissue typing?
Tissue typing = procedure in which tissues of prospective donor and recipient are tested for compatibility