Cyclosporin A (CS-A), selectively inhibited cellular immunity, delayed the skin graft-induced rejection of corneal allografts in rabbits when administered subconjunctivally in the dose of 3 mg/kg/day or in the form of 5% water-soluble drops five times daily for 28 days. The subconjunctival application of CS-A was irritating, whereas the topical instillation of the water-soluble preparation was ...

PURPOSE To explore immunologic issues involved in orthotopic corneal xenotransplantation in a discordant combination using guinea pigs as donors and mice as recipients. METHODS Two-millimeter-diameter guinea pig corneal buttons were transplanted into 1.5-mm-diameter graft beds on mouse corneas using 12 interrupted sutures. Eyelids were maintained occluded with tarsorrhaphy except at the times...

OBJECTIVE To review a single center's experience and outcome with living donor transplants. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Outcome after living donor transplants is better than after cadaver donor transplants. Since the inception of the authors' program, they have performed 2,540 living donor transplants. For the most recent cohort of recipients, improvements in patient care and immunosuppressive pr...

At the present time, rejection is the most frequent cause of graft dysfunction in liver transplantation. Differential diagnosis between this and other possible causes of dysfunction—preservation injury, vascular, biliary, viral—may well be difficult, as the clinical and analytical findings are often similar; moreover, no markers specific to rejection are available, and histological studies are ...

Discovery of non-invasive diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for acute rejection in liver transplant patients would help to ensure the preservation of liver function in the graft, eventually contributing to improved graft and patient survival. We evaluated selected cytokines and chemokines in the sera from liver transplant patients as potential biomarkers for acute rejection, and found that t...

The quality of life of organ transplant recipients is compromised by complications associated with life-long immunosuppression, such as hypertension, diabetes, opportunistic infections, and cancer. Moreover, the absence of established tolerance to the transplanted tissues causes limited long-term graft survival rates. Thus, there is a great medical need to understand the complex immune system i...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The requirement for an effective, minimally toxic immunosuppressive agent remains a major obstacle to performing high risk corneal transplantation. Although therapy with cyclosporin A (CSA) allows superior graft survival, its use is limited because of a wide range of side effects. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has been shown to be a safe and effective immunosuppressive agent follo...

NO derived from iNOS has been implicated in cardiac rejection. However, little is known about the role of the reactive nitrogen species, peroxynitrite. We examined the protective actions of a peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst WW85 in an experimental model of acute cardiac rejection. Heterotopic, abdominal transplantation of rat donor hearts was performed. Groups included: isografts, allograf...

Nitric oxide (NO) derived from inducible NO synthase has been implicated in cardiac rejection. However, little is known about the role of the reactive nitrogen species peroxynitrite. We examined the protective actions of a peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst, WW85, in an experimental model of acute cardiac rejection. Heterotopic, abdominal transplantation of rat donor hearts was performed. Gro...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES After allogeneic stem cell transplantation treatment failures are mostly caused by graft rejection or graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). T-cell depletion is an appropriate tool to prevent GvHD. However, it might be associated with an increased risk of graft rejection, which can be recognized by serial and quantitative characterization of chimerism. Thus, pre-emptive imm...