Purpose of review: The present review aims to highlight the major recent advances in transplantation with regards to basic, translational, and clinical research.
Recent findings: We describe new concepts in understanding allorecognition and allospecificity of T cells, and discuss current challenges in targeting memory T cells, including the limitation of rodent disease models. From a clinical perspective, we highlight the advances in molecular biopsy characterization, which have expanded our knowledge of potential drivers of injury and may provide better parameters for patient risk stratification. We also highlight the dual role of innate immunity in both stimulating and regulating adaptive immunity, as well as novel insights into environmental exposures that may affect immune regulation, such as high-salt diet. Finally, we discuss advances in understanding humoral response and novel technologies, such as chimeric antigen receptors-engineered T cells, microparticle-based drug delivery, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9) gene editing, that may provide intriguing and promising approaches to restrain alloimmunity.
Summary: Current advances in our understanding of the basic mechanisms of alloimmunity and their potential translation to clinical applications will permit the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to improve long-term graft survival.