POTENTIAL OF ANTICOMPLEMENT THERAPY IN CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION

The activation of complement contributes to tissue damage in many ways . Prevention of complement activation in organ transplantation has lar gely centred on studies in xenotransplantation where complement plays a key role in the pathogenesis of hyperacute rejection. Transgenic por cine organs expressing human regulators of complement activation ir co mbination with soluble inhibitors as well as appropriate immunosuppres sion may be sufficient to alleviate the major immunological barriers t hat currently prevent the use of xenogeneic organs for human transplan tation.