Question

Jack and Jill were badly burned in an accident at the well and both were taken to the burn unit of the local hospital. The burns covered only a small area of skin so grafts were prepared for both patients from the skin of Jack’s thigh. Jack’s graft was successful and his burn healed completely. Jill, however, rejected the grafted skin. Explain the immune responses of both patients to these grafts. What treatments could have helped Jill to avoid rejection of her graft?

Answer 1

Jill's body rejected the skin graft from Jack due to recognition of the donor skin as foreign by her immune system, leading to an immune response and graft rejection. Immunosuppressive therapy and better HLA matching could have helped reduce the risk of rejection.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario described, Jack received an autograft, meaning the skin was transferred from one area of his body to another, leading to successful healing due to the genetic identity between the donor and recipient sites. Jill, on the other hand, received an allograft from Jack, and her immune system recognized the graft as foreign due to differences in human leukocyte antigens (HLAs). Her dendritic cells presented these non-self HLAs to helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells, which resulted in the rejection of the transplanted skin as they initiated an immune response to destroy the grafted cells.

To avoid this rejection, Jill could have been treated with immunosuppressive therapy to dampen her immune response and increase graft tolerance. Moreover, a closer HLA match or even the removal of mature T cells from the graft (where applicable) could help reduce the chances of rejection. Despite these measures, recipients of non-self tissues often require lifelong immunosuppression, making them susceptible to infections and increasing transplant-related malignancy risks.