Abstract | Keywords | Export | Availability | Bookmark

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The aim of this work is to review the definitions of tolerance, the current knowledge regarding its immunological mechanisms, and the candidate assays proposed for immunological monitoring of alloreactivity in clinical liver transplantation. When compared to other solid-organ transplant, liver allografts are considered as immunologically privileged, and, accordingly, constitute a favourable setting to develop experimental as well as clinical strategies for minimization of immunosuppression and even induction of operational tolerance. However, the ways of investigation to achieve these latter aims are controversial, considering the redundancy of rejection pathways and the diversity of immunological mechanisms described in experimental models of tolerance. In contrast to research in rodents claiming the development of donor-specific tolerance in case of graft survivals of over 100 days, it is impractical to confirm tolerance assays in the clinic, such markers are still not validated in human transplantation. Encouraging venues of research include the detection of early post-transplant immune deviation, of circulating precursors of dendritic cells subtypes, and of circulating clinical liver transplantation is also proposed

Monitoring, Immunologic --- Organ Transplantation