Authors: Casiraghi F, Aiello S, Remuzzi G
Organ transplantation has proven to be an effective therapeutic for a wide variety of disease states, but the chronic immunosuppression required for allograft survival increases the risk for infection and neoplasia. In the past 50 years, a wealth of experimental data has been accumulated relating to strategies to preserve function and prolong graft survival. These strategies operate by inducing peripheral or central tolerance to the allograft, with protocols based on regulatory T cell (Treg) induction as the most promising ones. However, as these protocols move into the clinic, there is recognition that little is known as to their efficacy when confronted with the human immune system: preexisting memory T cells and "heterologous immunity" in an...