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The role of NK cells in transplant tolerance and rejection

Subject Area General and Visceral Surgery
Term from 2010 to 2018
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 160225957
 
Final Report Year 2018

Final Report Abstract

Innate cell populations such as Natural Killer cells and γδ T cells are emerging as important effector cells in transplantation, as they have recently been shown to be contributors to both early alloimmune responses and ischemia reperfusion injury. In this context our previous studies show that NK cells, contingent upon their cytokine-dependent activation status, become potent effector cells in acute allograft rejection and tolerance induction. With the help of this funding, we have shown that NK cells and γδ T cells are functionally heterogeneous populations, which play distinct roles in alloimmune responses and early IRI based on their regulation by hallmark transcription factors such as T-bet, Eomesodermin (Eomes) and RORγt. Importantly, we further demonstrate that innate effector cells in transplantation can be classified into protective and proinflammatory effector cell subsets according to transcription factor-dependent regulation. The identification of specific innate cell populations mediating transplant protection or damage may have significant clinical implications and may lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies to improve long-term transplant outcomes.

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