Iron predicts tolerance in liver transplantation

Selected summary of Bohne F, Martínez-Llordella M, Lozano JJ, et al. Intragraft expression of genes involved in iron homeostasis predicts the development of operational tolerance in human liver transplantation. J Clin Invest 2012;122: 368–382. Lifetime immunosuppressive therapy, which is usually needed to prevent rejection of the graft in solid organ transplantation, may have serious side effects resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. The liver is unique in organ transplantation; up to 20% of transplant recipients can be weaned off immunosuppressive drugs and display “operational tolerance” of the graft in the absence of immunosuppression (Transplantation 2011;91:1065–1974)..