Organ transplants recipients take medications to suppress th

Organ transplants recipients take medications to suppress their immune system for a lifetime. What specific type(s) of immune response are they suppressing? What types of infections are they most susceptible to? Why?

Solution

Transplantation is the act of transferring cells, tissues, organs from one site to another. The malfunction of an organ system can be corrected with transplantation of an organ ( eg: kidney, liver, heart, lung, and pancreas) from donor

Immunosuppressive drugs:

1. immunophillin binding agents: eg: cyclosporine, tacrolimus these agents suppress calcineurin inhibitors, they primarily suppress activation of T cells by inhibition of cytokine production IL-2

2.Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR inhibitors) which inhibitss IL-2 mediated signal transduction result of B-cells, T-cells arrest in G1-S phase.

3. Antiproliferative agents inhibits DNA replication and suppress B-cell, T-cells proliferation.

4. Steriods important for treating episodes of acute rejection

5. NK cell inactivation

Use of immunosuppressive drugs requires balance between risk of loss of transplanted organ and toxicity agents

Most susceptible infection of transplantation are shown below:

Bacterial infections: The type of bacteria infection observed following organ transplantation are divided as follows:

1. Those related to transplantation operation

2. Those related to prolonged hospitalization (nosocomial infection)

3. Those related to immunosuppressive treatment

Bacterial infection occurs in 33 to 68% of liver transplant recipients, 21 to 30% of heart transplant recipients and 35% pancrease transplant recipients, 47% of kidney transplant recipients.  The following bacteria causes infection during transplantation are given below:

                                                          Legionella spp

                                                          Nocardia spp

                                                          Salmonella spp

                                                          Listeria monocytogenes

Viral infections:     Cytomegalovirus

                             Herpes Simplex Virus

                             Varicella Zoster Virus

                             Epistein barr Virus

                             HIV

                             Hepatitis Virus

Fungal infections: Candida spp

                              Cryptococcus neoformans

                              Endemic Dimorphic Fungi

Parasitic infections: Toxoplasma gondii

                                Strongylodies stercoralis