CD8 T cells are necessary for costimulation blockade-resistant rejection. However, the mechanism by which CD8 T cells mediate rejection in the absence of major costimulatory signals is poorly understood. IFN-gamma promotes CD8 T cell-mediated immune responses, but IFN-gamma-deficient mice show early graft loss despite costimulation blockade. In contrast, we found that IFN-gamma receptor knockou...

Heart transplants are not rejected in the absence of adaptive immune responses, eg, in transplantations between genetically identical donors and hosts or to recipients with severe combined immunodeficiencies. Activation of adaptive immunity to an allograft causes destructive responses against donor parenchymal or vascular cells, called acute rejection. In the presence of adequate immunosuppress...

PURPOSE To test the hypothesis that a new microkeratome-assisted penetrating keratoplasty (PK) technique employing transplantation of a two-piece mushroom-shaped graft may result in better visual outcomes and graft survival rates than those of conventional PK. METHODS Retrospective chart review of 96 eyes at low risk and 76 eyes at high risk for immunologic rejection (all with full-thickness ...

background: correlations between bone marrow, heart, kidney, liver, skin and lung transplant rejection or survival with human cytokine gene polymorphisms have been described. there are also reports about the role of cytokines and tumor necrosis factors-alpha (tnf-α) on corneal transplant in animal models. further studies are needed to clarify the role of cytokines in corneal allograft rejection...

BACKGROUND Even after adequate immunosuppression therapy, acute rejection continues to be the single most important cause of graft dysfunction after renal transplantation. Renal allograft biopsy continues to be the reference standard, though certain clinical and biochemical parameters are helpful in assessment of these patients. Renal allograft rejection is mediated by T lymphocytes, expressing...

BACKGROUND Acute rejection episodes are a major determinant of renal allograft survival, and the improvement of the transplantation results in the last two decades is largely due to a progressive decrease in the incidence of acute rejection. These results are explained by the incorporation of new immunosuppressive agents since the introduction of cyclosporine. Because the detrimental effect of ...

AFTER cyclosporine (CyA) was introduced as an immunosuppressant in organ transplantation in 1978, the 1-year graft survival rates of patients undergoing liver, kidney, or heart transplantation were improved by about 20%. Since the middle of 1985, CyA-based primary immunosuppression has been used in nearly all transplantation centers in Europe and in the United States. Despite improved 1-year gr...

The decade of the 1990s saw an improvement in cadaveric renal graft function and dramatic reduction in the acute rejection (AR) rate. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the reduction in rejection rate was the primary cause of the improvement in graft function seen and whether this improved long-term graft survival. All adult patients who received a cadaver renal transplant betwe...