Oldhafer F, Bock M, Falk CS, Vondran FWR. Immunological aspects of liver cell transplantation. World J Transplant 2016; 6(1): 42-53 [PMID: 27011904 DOI: 10.5500/wjt.v6.i1.42]
Corresponding Author of This Article
PD Dr. Florian WR Vondran, MD, Regenerative Medicine and Experimental Surgery (ReMediES), Department of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. vondran.florian@mh-hannover.de
Research Domain of This Article
Transplantation
Article-Type of This Article
Review
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World J Transplant. Mar 24, 2016; 6(1): 42-53 Published online Mar 24, 2016. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v6.i1.42
Immunological aspects of liver cell transplantation
Felix Oldhafer, Michael Bock, Christine S Falk, Florian W R Vondran
Felix Oldhafer, Florian WR Vondran, Regenerative Medicine and Experimental Surgery (ReMediES), Department of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Michael Bock, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Michael Bock, Christine S Falk, Florian WR Vondran, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Christine S Falk, Institute of Transplant Immunology, Integrated Research and Treatment Centre Transplantation (IFB-Tx), Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Supported by Grants of the German Research Foundation (DFG, SFB 738; projects B3, C11) and BMBF 01EO1302.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Correspondence to: PD Dr. Florian WR Vondran, MD, Regenerative Medicine and Experimental Surgery (ReMediES), Department of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. vondran.florian@mh-hannover.de
Telephone: +49-511-5326317 Fax: +49-511-5328326
Received: July 31, 2015 Peer-review started: August 1, 2015 First decision: October 13, 2015 Revised: October 21, 2015 Accepted: December 7, 2015 Article in press: December 8, 2015 Published online: March 24, 2016 Processing time: 230 Days and 22.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Failure of durable engraftment of transplanted hepatocytes despite application of immunosuppression is mainly attributed to the remaining recipient’s immune responses against these allogenic grafts. Immune responses significantly differ from those observed for transplantation of whole livers and other solid organs. Innate immunity in combination with adaptive immune responses by T- and B-cells have to be taken into account for liver cell transplantation-specific immunosuppressive strategies. Possible clinical solutions to these obstacles will involve new combinations of novel and established immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory drugs, co-transplantation of other liver cell types or regulatory immune cells. In the future, also (syngenic) liver stem cells will be an option.
