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| Organ Transplants and Antibodies |
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| Organ transplantation is defined as the transfer of organs (like kidneys, heart liver etc) from one person to another. |
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| An organ transplant always involves a donor - who donates an organ and a recipient - who receives the organ. For an organ transplantation, the donor and the recipient should be genetically as close as possible. This is a very important criterion, else there is 100% change of rejection of the transplanted organ. The reason for rejection is because they are not histo compatible. |
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| Chromosome 6 of mouse contains a cluster of genes known as the major histo compatibility complex, which in humans is called Human Leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex. The alleles of HLA genes are co-dominant. The products of these genes decide histo-compatibility. The group of HLA alleles on a homologue of chromosome 6 is known as a haplotype. A person inherits one HLA haplotype from each parent. Only identical twins have the identical haplotype. The best HLA matches would occur within a family. The preference order for transplants is as follows: |
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| Identical twin > sibling > parent > unrelated donor. |
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| The procedure carried out to match HLA proteins of donor and recipient is called Tissue typing. Organ transplantation among compatible people is known as allograft or homograft. Organ transplantation among incompatible people is known as xenograft or heterograft. |
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| During transplantation, if the transplanted tissue is taken from the same body, it is known as autograft. |
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