TY - JOUR
T1 - Immune mechanisms of corneal allograft rejection
AU - Niederkorn, Jerry Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by NIH grants EY007641 and EY016664 and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, NY, USA.
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - Penetrating keratoplasty has been successfully performed on humans for over 100 years and remains the most common form of solid tissue transplantation. Although corneal allografts enjoy a remarkable degree of immune privilege, immune rejection remains the leading cause of keratoplasty failure. The immunologic basis for corneal allograft rejection was established in animal studies over 50 years ago, yet large gaps remain in our knowledge regarding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of corneal allograft rejection. The enormous redundancy in the mammalian immune system creates a condition that favors the development of multiple independent immune mechanisms that can produce corneal allograft rejection. Although there are few absolute principles, it is certain that the immune rejection of corneal allografts is (1) T cell-dependent, (1) heavily dependent upon CD4+ T cells, (3) not restricted to either Th1 or Th2 T cell populations, and (4) dependent upon an intact repertoire of resident antigen presenting cells.
AB - Penetrating keratoplasty has been successfully performed on humans for over 100 years and remains the most common form of solid tissue transplantation. Although corneal allografts enjoy a remarkable degree of immune privilege, immune rejection remains the leading cause of keratoplasty failure. The immunologic basis for corneal allograft rejection was established in animal studies over 50 years ago, yet large gaps remain in our knowledge regarding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of corneal allograft rejection. The enormous redundancy in the mammalian immune system creates a condition that favors the development of multiple independent immune mechanisms that can produce corneal allograft rejection. Although there are few absolute principles, it is certain that the immune rejection of corneal allografts is (1) T cell-dependent, (1) heavily dependent upon CD4+ T cells, (3) not restricted to either Th1 or Th2 T cell populations, and (4) dependent upon an intact repertoire of resident antigen presenting cells.
KW - Corneal transplantation
KW - Graft
KW - Immune rejection
KW - Keratoplasty
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U2 - 10.1080/02713680701767884
DO - 10.1080/02713680701767884
M3 - Short survey
C2 - 18085464
AN - SCOPUS:39149083752
SN - 0271-3683
VL - 32
SP - 1005
EP - 1016
JO - Current Eye Research
JF - Current Eye Research
IS - 12
ER -