TRANSPLANT REJECTION PREVENTION

Transplant rejection is an issue that has been of great essence to the medical field. It is a process whereby the immune system of the recipient attacks a transplanted organ. Before thinking of transplant rejection is necessary to think of the reason as to why transplantation happens. For transplantation to be authorized or diagnosed, an organ in a patient must have been affected or destroyed to the extent that it never functions as it should generally work. It happens in the face of organ failure and in that case, a donated organ is surgically transferred to the suffering patient. Organ transplantation is therefore in its entirety an activity that is undertaken to protect life. Due to a wide range of immune issues however, organ rejection may happen. Interventions towards the treatment of transplant rejection are inclusive of noting the relevance targets, deciding on mechanisms of action and diagnosing the treatment so as to treat and also prevent transplant rejection. The current and future methods of preventing organ transplant are very functional and have been life-saving interventions.

Organ rejection is an autoimmunity issue that involves basic mechanisms that to ensure that the immune system maintains some tolerance to the transplant. The mechanisms are all aimed at altering the rise of autoimmune diseases in the case that the immune system of the body does not react against the transplant and induce autoimmune disease. Autoimmunity means that the immune system of the body does not have to be an activity to respond to an organ in the body (Alderuccio, 2009, p347). In the very first few minutes and days, the immune system of the body automatically notes a new organ in the body and as such reacts causing an autoimmune disease. 

The body’s immune system is set in a manner that it can denote the entry of new cells in the body. As per the setting of the immune system the entry of the new cells in the body may cause the production of antibodies which main aim is to fight the new cells which the immune system has already denoted as destructive. The antibodies activate the T-cells in the case that they are produced. Acute tissue damage is set to follow as a result and it could in the long-run cause acute chronic conditions (Yang et al., 2014, p495). An autoimmune disease is an immune response, and hence it is not that easy to regulate. The transplanted organ encounter is thus likely to encounter tissue damage and could fail to realize the purpose that it was meant for and cause more immune conditions. 

Clinicians are not just inclined in understanding the way that the autoimmune processes happen but are also interested in understanding the targets of the autoimmune reactions and disease causation. The relevance of the targets of the autoimmune conditions cannot be understated. First, it makes the clinicians understand the autoimmune disease that is likely to occur concerning the transplanted organ. Physicians are also able to understand the target tissues arising from the organ transplant (Sánchez–Fueyo and Strom, 2011, p55). For instance, physicians already understand that juvenile Diabetes targets the B islets of the pancreas; Scleroderma affects the connective tissue, the Graves disease affects the thyroid glands among others. Having understood the risk of an autoimmune disease happening, therefore, there is the likelihood to understand which tissues will be affected and make interventions for the same.

The relevance of denoting the most probable target of an auto-immune disease is quite necessary for preventing organ rejection. Once one has taken an organ transplant, they will be required to go through a process of conspicuous testing for autoimmune diseases. The necessity of the testing processes is deeply engrossed in the fact that once a certain autoimmune disease is denoted, the doctors will understand the best medical intervention to use. They could also carry more tests to understand whether the target tissue has been wholly destroyed or not. However, such evaluations happen in the very first instances of the disease and hence the tissue cannot be affected as such. The treatment of the tissue to avoid further destruction is, therefore, an essential relevance of understanding the target tissues as it not only helps in identifying the autoimmune disease but also in the protection of the tissue from any more damage.

Different mechanisms of action can be used by medical practitioners in the process of preventing organ rejection. Having noted that the production of the antibodies in the body is a process of DNA replication, then the very first mechanism that can be used is the prevention of DNA replication (Kovaric, 2013, p276). The process which is widely known as the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase is an active process that is used in the prevention of the replication of any more DNA directed towards the production of antibodies aimed at countering the transplanted organ. The mechanism is heavily impactful although it takes quite some time actually to stop the simplest of the DNA replication. 

An additional mechanism alongside the prevention of DNA replication is used to prevent transplant rejection. The mechanism can be called an additive mechanism since it cannot be undertaken as a primary intervention. A method is an inhibition approach that ensures the inhibition of DNA and RNA (Kovarik, 2013, p278). The mechanism is usually undertaken in the case of a severe condition whereby the life of an organ recipient is in danger and anymore increase in the production of antibodies would lead to their death. The method is a responsive use of medication targets the rapidly dividing cells and kills them and inhibits further production the dividing DNA and RNA cells.

Current treatments of preventing organ rejection are very useful. The medication is a quite reactive immunosuppressant that ensures that DNA replication does not happen any further. In that essential case, it thus means that no more antibodies are produced by the body thereby causing more tissue destruction or prolonging an autoimmune disease that would render the transplanted organ not useful. The process is also a peculiar one that also prevents other parts of the body from being affected (Yang et al., 2014, p498). The necessary mechanisms for preventing organ rejection are not just accurate but they are also highly effective, and thus they have been sufficient in preserving human life in the case where organ transplant yields some autoimmune responses or diseases.

Though the current treatments of preventing transplant rejection are highly effective, future mechanisms will be more advanced and could even be vaccination approaches. Delocalized prevention of DNA after the transplant is still targeted meaning that there would be no or very little autoimmune response to an organ transplant. It, therefore, means that the process of organ transplant would not cause autoimmune diseases anymore which would be a sufficing intervention of preventing transplant rejection completely.

References

Alderuccio, F., Chan, J., Scott, D.W. and Toh, B.H., 2009. Gene therapy and bone marrow stem-cell transfer to treat autoimmune disease. Trends in molecular medicine, 15(8), pp.344-351.

Kovarik, J., 2013. From immunosuppression to immunomodulation: current principles and future strategies. Pathobiology, 80(6), pp.275-281.

Sánchez–Fueyo, A. and Strom, T.B., 2011. Immunologic basis of graft rejection and tolerance following transplantation of liver or other solid organs. Gastroenterology, 140(1), pp.51-64.

Yang, J., Sundrud, M.S., Skepner, J. and Yamagata, T., 2014. Targeting Th17 cells in autoimmune diseases. Trends in pharmacological sciences, 35(10), pp.493-500.