Finding ways of safely sidestepping these hardworking law enforcers are at the cornerstone of DRI's work in transplant immunology.
Hyperacute rejection is a severe reaction that is seen within minutes of transplantation.
Antibodies in the recipient's bloodstream are able to quickly identify and react against the transplanted organ or cells, resulting in graft failure within hours of the procedure. These types of reactions are the rule in transplants performed across species, and are one of the obstacles that must be overcome before non-human sources of islets can become reality. Understanding where the telltale pig islet markers lie and how this signaling works is the first step in being able to make porcine islets a more viable transplantation option in the future. Primary non-function is a poorly understood phenomenon and describes islets that either never functioned or that lost their ability to function very early in the post transplant period. Current studies are under way at the DRI to determine if using different combinations of reagents in the separation and isolation phases of islet processing can reduce the incidence of early islet loss.