T CELLS AND TRANSPLANT INJURY T-CELL ACTIVATION AND TARGETS OF IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE THERAPY ANTIBODIES AND TRANSPLANT INJURY

CONCLUSION Transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage kidney, heart, lung, and liver disease. Short-term outcomes in solid-organ transplantation are excellent, but long-term outcomes remain subopti-mal. Advances in immune suppression and human leukocyte antigen matching techniques have reduced the acute rejection rate to <10%. Chronic allograft injury remains problematic and is in part immune-mediated. This injury is orchestrated by a com-plex adaptive and innate immune system that has evolved to protect the organism from infection, but, in the context of transplantation, could result in allograft rejection. Such chronic injury is partially mediated by anti-human leukocyte antigen antibod-ies. Severe rejections have largely been avoided by the development of tissue-typing techniques and crossmatch testing, which are discussed in detail. Address Correspondence to