Whilst the major caveat to the success of organ transplantation remains the severe lack of donor organs, rejection is still a primary confounding factor to transplant outcomes. This is an allospecific response that occurs when the recipient immune system recognises conserved proteins on donor-derived cells as 'non-self'. Currently, all immunosuppressive regimes target the recipient immune response, ignoring the large donor immune repertoire despite these cells playing a central role in acute rejection. This is likely as a result of a lack of understanding of the temporal migration of the donor compartment and its contribution to the inflammatory cascade that ensues. The development of ex vivo perfusion provides the opportunity to assess this in isolation, with no confounding factors. Furthermore, inducing the mobilisation of passenger leukocytes on an ex vivo circuit allows their removal prior to transplantation. Reducing the inflammatory burden of donor organs has the potential to impact on the clinical outcome of patients, manifesting as a reduction in the incidence or severity of acute rejection. The aim of this PhD thesis was to characterise the donor immune compartment of lungs and kidneys, to assess the impact of ex vivo perfusion on this, and determine the post-transplant impact of removing a proportion of these cells. For this purpose, donor lungs were perfused using ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) and the immune compartment characterised. A comparison of EVLP versus standard transplanted lungs was performed using a porcine transplant model. Clinical parameters were recorded and a histological assessment of cellular infiltration was performed to diagnose the incidence of acute rejection. To determine if these results were translatable to other organs, a porcine model of kidney ex vivo perfusion was established. In both models, a significant efflux of donor leukocytes was observed and inflammatory mediators detected. In a transplant model of EVLP, reducing the transfer of these passenger leukocytes translated into improved clinical outcomes, manifesting as a lower incidence of acute rejection, for animals receiving EVLP lungs compared to a standard transplant. Similar benefit is likely to occur following transplantation of perfused kidneys. This study describes for the first time the contribution of donor organs to the inflammatory processes that ensue following transplantation. It is clear that this untargeted population is of significant importance in clinical outcomes. Immunomodulatory strategies to alter the donor immune environment prior to transplantation therefore warrant development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:713598 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Stone, John |
| Contributors | Fildes, James |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/assessing-the-impact-of-ex-vivo-perfusion-on-graft-immunogenicity(a8ad264a-8925-44ee-94c0-465d3ddd7e14).html |
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