Immunopathology of organ transplantation

Immunopathology techniques are useful and sometimes indispensable tools to diagnose and/or define pathogenesis of disease processes in an organ allograft. Using immunostaining and/or in situ hybridization, cells and molecules can be identified and localized in organ grafts. Considered in this chapter are the "priming" of tissues by ischemia and infection, cell-mediated and antibody-mediated acute and chronic rejection in xenografts and allografts, graft infection, and recurrent or de novo immune disease in organ grafts. The chapter is designed to provide an overview, with illustrative examples of the contribution of immunopathology to analysis of solid organ allografts.