Cell Therapy in Organ Transplantation: Our Experience on the Clinical Translation
of Regulatory T Cells
#MMPMID29535728
Safinia N
; Grageda N
; Scottą C
; Thirkell S
; Fry LJ
; Vaikunthanathan T
; Lechler RI
; Lombardi G
Front Immunol
2018[]; 9
(?): 354
PMID29535728
show ga
Solid organ transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with
end-stage organ dysfunction. Despite improvements in short-term outcome,
long-term outcome is suboptimal due to the increased morbidity and mortality
associated with the toxicity of immunosuppressive regimens and chronic rejection
(1-5). As such, the attention of the transplant community has focused on the
development of novel therapeutic strategies to achieve allograft tolerance, a
state whereby the immune system of the recipient can be re-educated to accept the
allograft, averting the need for long-term immunosuppression. Indeed, reports of
"operational" tolerance, whereby the recipient is off all immunosuppressive drugs
and maintaining good graft function, is well documented in the literature for
both liver and kidney transplantations (6-8). However, this phenomenon is rare
and in the setting of liver transplantation has been shown to occur late after
transplantation, with the majority of patients maintained on life-long
immunosupression to prevent allograft rejection (9). As such, significant
research has focused on immune regulation in the context of organ transplantation
with regulatory T cells (Tregs) identified as cells holding considerable promise
in this endeavor. This review will provide a brief introduction to human Tregs,
their phenotypic and functional characterization and focuses on our experience to
date at the clinical translation of Treg immunotherapy in the setting of solid
organ transplantation.
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