Transplantation Tolerance

Tolerance following organ transplantation was first described in experimental models over 50 years ago. Reports of tolerance in clinical transplantation have appeared in the literature sporadically for decades. Despite this long-standing fascination with transplantation tolerance, the ability to reproducibly induce tolerance in humans undergoing organ transplantation has remained elusive. Recent advances in our knowledge of the mechanisms that contribute to the induction and maintenance of tolerance as well as those factors that oppose tolerance may allow the design of clinical trials aimed at introducing tolerance-inducing strategies into clinical transplantation.