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 Most organs available for transplantation come from cadavers.

 It takes many hours to tissue-type a cadaver, find a recipient with the same antigens, and fly the organ to the recipient’s city.  Only kidneys can be stored for this long, and still function. Therefore, only kidneys are matched for antigens.  Transplantation antigens are proteins expressed on the surface of an individual’s cells.

 With organs like the liver, the heart, and the pancreas, only the blood type is matched between donor and recipient.

 Until 1960, renal failure was fatal.  Kidney transplants offered the only hope to dying patients, as chronic machines had not yet become available.

 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and autoimmune diseases of the kidney are some of the more common conditions causing kidney failure.

 In most transplant centers, patients who have received vascularized allotransplants are given a combination of immunosuppressive drugs.

 Lymphocytes are white blood cells that are intimately involved in the body’s immune response.  They can be divided into two groups: B and T cells.  T lymphocytes are responsible for destroying allotransplants.

 Azathiaprine was one of the first drugs to successfully inhibit T cells from replicating.

 A tissue removed from one part of the body and transplanted to another site in the same individual is called an autograft.