Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Tendon defects or damaged when clinically repairing needed transplant tendons. Heterogeneous tendon is an ideal method to repair the tendon defects. Heterogeneous tendon source is sufficient, but post-transplantation rejection limits the use of heterogeneous tendons.
OBJECTIVE: To review the antigens of heterogeneous tendons and post-transplantation immune response as well as reduction of xenograft rejection.
METHODS: Using “tendons, transplantation, immunity” in Chinese and English as the key words, the first author conducted a computer search of Pubmed database (http://www/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed) and CNKI database (www.cnki.net/index.htm) through screening the titles and abstracts. Articles recently published or published in the authority magazines were preferred in the same field. Totally 30 documents were included.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: At present, the study for heterogeneous graft antigens involves Gal-a-1, 3-Gal antigen (Gal) and non-Gal antigen, especially Gal antigen gene. Gal antigen is a main factor of super rejection (HAR). Cellular immunity mainly exists at early stage after heterogeneous tendon transplantation, and only humoral immunity exists at late stage. Animal experiments have shown that heterogeneous tendons after different physical and chemical treatments have potential application value. Unlike other organ transplantation, tendon transplantation is a non-functional transplantation, which only provides a growth support for the recipient. The biological research after transplantation mainly focuses on bio-mechanical characteristics. Therefore, the elimination of the immunogenicity and reservation of graft biomechanical properties is the key to heterogeneous tendon graft.