What Students Need To Know About The Principles of Organ Transplantation.

The immune system has evolved to protect the body from disease-causing agents by using innate and adaptive systems. The innate system acts rapidly using non-specific processes to target a large variety of pathogens and prevent the spread of disease. The adaptive system works more slowly and uses lymphocytes to target specific pathogens. Prevention and treatment of rejection post-transplantation is achieved by controlling both these immune mechanisms pharmacologically. The immunological barriers that provide protection from pathogens also provide a major hurdle to successful organ transplantation. Immune responses to infectious pathogens can be divided into innate and acquired responses. Innate immune mechanisms are non-specific and include physical barriers, complement-mediated phagocytosis, and the acute inflammatory reaction. In contrast, the acquired immune response shows specificity, memory, and improves with repeated exposure. Key Points • The immune system is divided into innate and adaptive immun