Xenotransplantation of the Porcine Lung-From Immunological Barriers to Emerging Experimental Strategies.

Authors

Nathalie Roters, Niveditha Varma, Robert Ramm, Heiner Niemann, Patrick Zardo, Arjang Ruhparwar, Tobias Goecke

Published in

Xenotransplantation. Volume 33. Issue 5. Pages e70169.

Abstract

Lung transplantation is the only long-lasting life-saving treatment for patients with end-stage pulmonary disease, but the ever-growing shortage of suitable donor organs leads to high mortality rates of the afflicted patients. Xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs across species, has emerged as a promising alternative. This review summarizes the current knowledge on immunological barriers in lung xenotransplantation, including mechanisms of hyperacute, delayed, and chronic rejection. We highlight potential experimental strategies to overcome the various rejection responses. Xenotransplantation of organs such as hearts and kidneys has recently been advanced to clinical trials. However, lung xenotransplantation remains highly challenging due to its specific vascular sensitivity, extraordinary immunogenicity, and the immediate exposure to the external environment. Thus, translating these advances into durable clinical graft function will require lung-specific genetic and pharmacological strategies that directly address the organ's unique immunological vulnerabilities, especially its susceptibility to complement-mediated vascular injury, microvascular coagulopathy, and pulmonary intravascular macrophage activation.

PMID:
42755015
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.