2004 Volume 50 Issue 1 Pages 2-8
Recently, the shortage of donor organs shortage for transplantation has become a serious problem, paradoxically, because of the success of transplantation. Xenotransplantation is one of the potential solutions for this organ shortage. However, grafts meet with hyperacute rejection (HAR) immediately after transplantation in pig-to-primate species combinations due to anti-Gal natural antibody against the carbohydrate epitope, Galα1, 3Galα1-4GlcNAc-R (αGal) on the vascular endothelium of the xenograft. We demonstrated that peritoneal cavity B cells can become anti-Gal-producing cells in the spleen, and that this is associated with down-regulation of Mac-1. Thus, peritoneal cavity Mac-1+B cells may be precursors of Mac-1-splenic anti-Gal-producing cells. Therefore, splenectomy of recipients may be an effective treatment in xenotransplantation and may contribute to the clinical applicbility of xenotransplantaion.
