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The time-dependent shift in the hepatic graft and recipient macrophage pool following liver transplantation

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 17, pages 412–414 (2020)Cite this article

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Liver transplantation (LT) provides a cure for various end-stage liver diseases. The liver graft becomes the recipient’s new metabolic center, and donor genetics plays a potent role in the development of complications in the recipient, such as metabolic disorders1 and even tumor recurrence.2 Notably, both the donor’s3 and recipient’s genetics4 contributes significantly to intrahepatic complications (e.g., liver fibrosis and de novo steatosis). Therefore, crosstalk between donor and recipient tissue remodels the architecture and homeostasis of the transplanted liver, which is still a great challenge to explore.

Macrophages are the cornerstones of liver architecture in homeostasis and disease.5 During the perioperative LT period, macrophages not only respond to ischemia/reperfusion injury but also become reorganized with the recipient’s peripheral blood monocytes. The interaction between the recomposed macrophages and other cells (e.g., hepatocytes and T cells) may affect immunological mechanisms6,7 and metabolic homeostasis.8 However, it is still unknown how the constitutional and functional shifting of macrophages under such circumstances takes place.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81771713), the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LR18H030001), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019QNA7030).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Haitao Huang, Xueyou Zhang, Cheng Zhang, Qi Ling & Shusen Zheng

  2. Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-Organ Transplantation, Ministry of Public Health, Hangzhou, China

    Hui Chen, Qi Ling & Shusen Zheng

Authors
  1. Haitao Huang
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  2. Xueyou Zhang
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  3. Cheng Zhang
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  4. Hui Chen
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  5. Qi Ling
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  6. Shusen Zheng
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Contributions

Q.L. designed the experiments; H.H., X.Z., C.Z., and H.C. performed the experiments; H.H. wrote the draft; and Q.L. and S.Z. reviewed and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Qi Ling or Shusen Zheng.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Huang, H., Zhang, X., Zhang, C. et al. The time-dependent shift in the hepatic graft and recipient macrophage pool following liver transplantation. Cell Mol Immunol 17, 412–414 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-019-0253-x

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