Immunological tolerance in allo- and xenografts

Abstract

Advances in surgical techniques and ancillary care, in parallel with advances in clinical immunosuppression, are the reasons for the enormous success that has been achieved to date in solid organ transplantation. Such success has also provided a considerable boost in the advancement of our knowledge of immunological tolerance in allogeneic and (relatively more recently) xenogeneic transplantation. Thus, success in human organ transplantation has provided the incentive and foundation for unraveling some of the mysteries of organ transplant acceptance vs failure and has been the foundation for the science of transplantation immunology, which includes to a large extent studies of the fundamental mechanisms of immunological tolerance and the understanding of the concepts involved in self- vs nonself-discrimination. © 2007 Humana Press Inc.