Transplant Grand Rounds - Dr. Elmar Jaeckel

Precision Medicine in Transplantation: from Individualized Immunosuppression to Tissue-Specific Tolerance

Speaker: Dr. Elmar Jaeckel

Abstract: The long-term survival of liver grafts beyond year 1 has not improved over the past 30 years. Patients suffer from malignancy, infection and chronic immune mediated graft loss. Using molecular microscopes techniques we show that immune responses within the graft differ and the we can define a low, intermediate and high risk group. While the low risk group can be converted to minimization protocols and weaning trials the high risk group might require new therapeutic approaches. I will introduce graft-specific regulatory T cells as a potential treatment option to achieve tissue-specific tolerance without compromising the general immune competence.