This document discusses tolerance in renal transplantation. It begins by explaining that the adaptive immune system responds to transplanted organs by recognizing HLA molecules from the donor, triggering an alloimmune response. There are two mechanisms of tolerance: central tolerance occurs in the thymus, while peripheral tolerance involves inactivation of T lymphocytes in tissues. The document then reviews studies showing that splenectomy or splenosis can induce clinical tolerance to renal transplants in animal models by impacting antibody levels, regulatory T cells, and microchimerism. However, attempts to achieve robust tolerance through similar protocols in humans have largely failed due to the complexity of the transplantation immunobiology.
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