Immunology 5 Transplantation Flashcards
(45 cards)
what are the 2 main types of transplantation?

what is the main problem with transplantation?
rejection
what is rejection?
•Rejection refers to damage done by the immune system to a transplanted organ. (hypersensitivity reaction)
what is Autologous transplant?
•Autologous transplant refers to tissue returning to the same individual after a period outside the body, usually in a frozen state. (mainly for stem cells)
what is Syngeneic transplant?
•Syngeneic transplant refers to transplant between identical twins; there is usually no problem with graft rejection. Also called isograft.
what is Allogeneic transplant?
•Allogeneic transplant takes place between genetically nonidentical members of the same species; there is always a risk of rejection. (form another human)
what is Cadaveric transplantation?
•Cadaveric transplantation uses organs from a dead donor.
what is a Xenogeneic transplant?
•Xenogeneic transplant takes place between different species and carries the highest risk of rejection
summary of types of transplantations
Pig to human is the most commonly studied

Solid Organ Transplantation - Transplantation may be an option when what?
solid organs stop functioning
Several criteria must be met before transplantation - what are they?
- There must be good evidence that the damage is irreversible
- That alternative treatments are not applicable
- The disease must not recur
•The main problem with all solid organ transplants is the risk for ________
rejection
In Solid Organ Transplant Rejection:
•The chances of rejection must be minimized: how?
- The donor and recipient must be ABO compatible
- The recipient must not have anti-donor human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies
- The donor should be selected with as close as possible HLA match to the recipient
- The patient must take immunosuppressive treatment (Length of immunosuppression varies between organs)
table showing the characteristic of different organ transplantations:
Cornea not vascularised so not accessible by immune cells so chances of graft rejection are low

Stem cells carry a high risk of rejection
Best results are with the highest matches between the donor and the recipient and that should be of the blood group, HLA at different loci

what is a hyperacute rejection?
- Within hours of transplantation
- Preformed antibodies binding to either ABO blood group or HLA class I antigens on the graft
- Antibody binding triggers a type II hypersensitivity reaction, and the graft is destroyed by vascular thrombosis
- Hyperacute rejection can be prevented through careful ABO and HLA cross-matching and is now rare

what is acute rejection?
- Type IV (cell-mediated) delayed hypersensitivity reaction
- Takes place within days or weeks of transplantation
- Donor dendritic cells stimulate an allogeneic response in a local lymph node and T cells proliferate and migrate into the donor kidney. (or any other organ)
what is the main cause of acute rejection? and how is it prevented?
- HLA incompatibility is the main cause. Minimising any HLA mismatch of the donor and recipient can reduce acute rejection
- Shortage of donor kidneys leads to using a partially mismatched kidney
- The survival of the kidney is related to the degree of mismatching, especially at the HLA-DR loci (More mismatches then low amount of surviving grafts and lower success rate)
- Could be antibody mediated rejection.

what is the Immunopathology of graft rejection?
(For acute graft rejection there is different phases)
- Afferent phase: donor MHC molecules on ‘passenger leucocytes’ (dendritic cells) within the graft are recognised by the recipient’s CD4+ T cells (allorecognition)
- Effector phase: CD4+ T cells recruit effector cells responsible for the tissue damage of rejection; macrophages, CD8+ T cells, NK cells and B lymphocytes
- Not all parts of the graft need to be attacked for rejection to occur

what is chronic rejection?
- Chronic rejection takes place months or years after transplant
- An element of allogeneic reaction is often mediated by T cells, which can result in repeated acute rejection
- Chronic rejection may be caused by recurrence of pre-existing autoimmune disease
Can result form multiple acute attacks but also can happen by recurrence od pre-existing autoimmune disease which may of damaged the original organ in the recipient
what is tolerance?
•A state of unresponsiveness to molecules the immune system has the capacity to recognize and attack
what is tolerance In the context of transplantation?
•In the context of transplantation, this means that there is no response to alloantigens present on the transplanted tissue, but responses to pathogens are not affected
4 outcomes of transplant – 3 rejections and one tolerance
what is the problem with immunosuppresive drugs?
- Immunosuppressive drugs prevent rejection if given at the time of transplantation, but once the drugs are stopped, rejection still takes place.
- Immunosuppressive drugs also lack the specificity of true tolerance and thus prevent immune responses to infectious agents
- Opportunist infections are a major limit to the use of potent immunosuppressive drugs
The problem with immunosuppressive drugs is that they are non-specific. People who get transplants are at higher risk of opportunistic infections which can sometimes be fatal
Now to reduce the risk of organ transplant rejection there should be tissue typing to maximise matching between recipient and donor
what tissue typing is avalible?

- HLA typing (HLA typing is compared to other donors)
- HLA cross matching

what is HLA cross matching?
(Lots of HLA types so cant type for all them)

they get donor B cells, get a blood sample from the donor as they express different classes of HLA
B cells are mixed with serum from the recipient as the serum will have antibodies and in this case if the serum has antibodies that react against the B cells this means there has been a mismatch and the transplantation cant take place
If no immediate reaction then no mismatch and procedure can proceed







