Copyright
©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2019; 25(25): 3123-3135
Published online Jul 7, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i25.3123
Published online Jul 7, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i25.3123
Revisiting the liver’s role in transplant alloimmunity
Nitin Abrol, Timucin Taner, William J. von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration, Massyo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, United States
Caroline C Jadlowiec, Transplant Center, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ 85259, United States
Author contributions: Abrol N, Jadlowiec CC and Taner T participated in the literature search and drafting of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Timucin Taner, FACS, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Surgeon, William J. von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street Southwest, Rochester, MN 55905, United States. taner.timucin@mayo.edu
Telephone: +1-507-266-3841 Fax: +1-507-266-9806
Received: March 15, 2019
Peer-review started: March 15, 2019
First decision: April 11, 2019
Revised: April 25, 2019
Accepted: May 18, 2019
Article in press: May 18, 2019
Published online: July 7, 2019
Peer-review started: March 15, 2019
First decision: April 11, 2019
Revised: April 25, 2019
Accepted: May 18, 2019
Article in press: May 18, 2019
Published online: July 7, 2019
Core Tip
Core tip: The liver not only protects itself from host alloimmune responses, but also modulates alloimmune responses to other simultaneously transplanted solid organs like heart or kidney. The titer of donor specific alloantibodies decreases after liver transplantation, making transplantation of other solid organs possible even in highly sensitized high-risk patients. The immune cells from the liver allograft cross-talk with recipient immune cells and modulate the immune system towards tolerance. The cross-talk between these cells suppress the genes involved in alloimmunity and upregulate the genes involved in tissue repair and metabolism.