Immunobiology of Allograft Destruction

Abstract

The past decade has been marked by a veritable explosion in our understanding of the immune response to alloantigens and the mechanisms of graft rejection. We can now consider both cellular and molecular events that directly impact on the function and survival of transplanted organs. The immune response that once may have seemed a relatively simple set of cell-cell interactions has now been expanded into such marvelous detail that the resulting complexity is a major and daunting challenge for both clinicians and scientists.