Organ Transplant Rejection - Antibody-mediated response or cell-mediated response

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

When a person has an organ transplant, which branch of the adaptive immune system is most involved in organ rejection? The antibody-mediated response system or the cell-mediated response system?

My thought process is the antibody-mediated response system as cytotoxic T cells (as part of the cell-mediated response) system appear to go after infected body cells, bacteria, and cancer.

Is my thought process on target that it is due mainly to what our antibodies do against the organ as part of organ rejection?

Thank you.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Hi:

I believe I found the answer to be cell-mediated... Effector T cells target the organs due to lack of MHC (self) markers.

Am I on the right track?

Thank you.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

The immune response to a transplanted organ consists of both cellular (lymphocyte mediated) and humoral (antibody mediated) mechanisms. Although other cell types are also involved, the T cells are central in the rejection of grafts. The rejection reaction consists of the sensitization stage (the CD4 and CD8 T cells, via their T-cell receptors, recognize the alloantigens expressed on the cells of the foreign graft) and the effector stage (nonimmunologic "injury responses" (ischemia) induce a nonspecific inflammatory response).

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Thank you very much, Esme!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

YOu're welcome....:)

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