The treatment to reduce the rejection in xenotransplantation - Pretransplant replacement of donor liver grafts with recipient liver cells.

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670554
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General surgery
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: UEMOTO Shinji 京都大学, 医学研究科, 教授 (40252449)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 肝移植 / 異種移植 / 骨髄細胞移植 / Kupffer細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated whether preoperative transplant of recipient-derived bone marrow cells (BMCs) to the donor attenuated the rejection after liver transplantation in the rat acute rejection model. Rats in the BMC group experienced prolonged survival. Serological and histopathological analyses revealed that the rejection of the liver graft was attenuated in the BMC group. X-gal staining and immunohistostaining of the liver graft revealed that transplanted BMCs were engrafted in the sinusoidal space and differentiated into Kupffer cells. Preoperative transplantation of recipient BMCs to LT donors replaced donor Kupffer cells and attenuated post-LT rejection, indicating that this strategy may increase the success of LT. We are planning further investigations with xenotransplantation models. We established the hamster/rat liver xenotransplantation model, which is similar to pig/human xenotransplantation.

Free Research Field

肝移植