Transplantation tolerance and mixed chimerism: at the frontier of clinical application

Although the persistence of donor-type hematopoietic cells in low numbers (microchimerism) is well established in some transplant recipients, its relevance for graft acceptance is still a matter of debate. On the other hand, clonal deletion of donor-specific alloreactive cells associated with mixed chimerism (macrochimerism) has reliably produced long-term graft tolerance in pre-clinical models. So far, the cytoablative conditioning regimens required to achieve mixed chimerism have hampered the clinical development of such protocols. Here, we discuss recent observations suggesting that the deliberate induction of hematopoietic cell chimerism might become a feasible strategy to achieve transplantation tolerance in clinics.