Dendritic cell therapy in composite tissue allotransplantation

A W Thomson1, J M Sacks, Y-R Kuo

  • 1Departments of Surgery and Immunology, Starzl Transplantation Institute and Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. thomsonaw@upmc.edu

Dendritic cells (DCs) are bone marrow-derived, professional antigen-presenting cells, with inherent tolerogenic function. The ability of immature or maturation-resistant DCs to regulate alloantigen-specific T-cell responses and to promote tolerance induction has been well demonstrated in organ and bone marrow transplantation. Recent data suggest that DCs can also promote long-term survival of composite tissue allografts in the absence of continued immunosuppressive drug therapy.