As Sykes explains, the Holy grail of transplantation is tolerance, the long-term graft acceptance without the long-term use of immunosuppressants. Sykes and collaborators developed a hematopoietic cell transplantation and mixed chimerism technique that proved to induce true tolerance in humans. They showed that transient mixed chimerism, the co-existence of donor and recipient hematopoietic elements, was detected in patients where tolerance was observed. Sykes reviews the clinical trial results and explains the experimental techniques used to study the molecular features that predict tolerance and low rates of organ rejection in patients.
View the full talk with additional resources on our website
The Immune Response to Allo- and Xenotransplantation
Megan Sykes provides an introduction to the field of organ transplantation, discusses the immunological responses associated with this procedure, and explains the new onsets of xenotransplantation. (Talk recorded in April 2018)
- Part 1: Introduction to TransplantationAudience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 32:19 - Part 2: Taming and Tracking the Human AlloresponseAudience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 37:40 - Part 3: XenotransplantationAudience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 31:32