The Role of Innate Immunity in Organ Transplantation

Dear Colleagues,

Organ transplantation continues to be the gold-standard therapy for the treatment of end-stage organ disease. Despite advances in our knowledge of the immune response, the loss of allografts from acute and chronic immunological rejection continues to limit the long-term efficacy of transplantation. Studies of the immune mechanisms of allograft rejection have predominantly focused on the adaptive immune system, which includes T cells and B cells. Recent investigations into the innate immune system, which recognizes foreign antigens through more evolutionarily primitive pathways, have demonstrated the critical role of the innate immune system in the regulation of adaptive immunity. Innate immunity has been extensively studied regarding its role as the host's first-line defense against microbial pathogens; however, it is becoming increasingly recognized for its ability to also process endogenous molecules released from tissue damage. The capacity of endogenous damage signals, acting through the innate immune system, to lower immune thresholds and promote immune recognition and the rejection of transplant grafts is only beginning to be appreciated. An improved understanding of these pathways may reveal novel therapeutic targets with which to decrease graft immunity and improve graft longevity.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of original research and review articles focusing on the contribution of the innate immune system to transplant rejection and immune tolerance. This Special Issue will increase our readers’ understanding of the direct contributions of the innate immune system to graft rejection, as well as the critical role it plays in regulating the adaptive immune system. Further research into these fundamental pathways has the potential to uncover innovative therapeutic strategies to prevent the immune recognition of the graft by modulating the innate immune system, potentially reducing the need for conventional immunosuppression and extending graft longevity.

Potential topics for submission include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

1. The roles of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), such as Toll-like receptors, Nod-like receptors, and C-type lectin receptors, in regulating immune responses to transplant grafts.
2. The contribution of innate immunity to transplant acceptance or tolerance.
3. The role of cellular subsets of the innate immune system, such as natural killer cells, natural killer T cells, and macrophages, in the direct recognition of grafts.
4. The interplay between the innate and adaptive immune systems in transplant tolerance or rejection.
5. Novel strategies that target the innate immune system in graft rejection.
6. The contribution of innate immune pathways to the development of antibody-mediated transplant rejection.
7. The effects of ischemia and reperfusion injury on the activation of the innate immune system.
8. The pathways through which immune cells initiate innate immunity following transplant injury.
9. The utility of direct and indirect allorecognition pathways in graft rejection.
10. An exploration of the role of the inflammasome and the direction of innate immunity in transplant tolerance.

Dr. Todd V. Brennan
Guest Editor

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• innate immunity
• allograft rejection
• transplantation
• immune tolerance