Mitigating the Immune Response of Transplant Tissues

Author(s)

Rasikh Hamid, GSSM

School Name

Governor's School for Science and Mathematics

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Physiology and Health

Presentation Type

Mentored

Written Paper Award

3rd Place

Abstract

Organ transplantation is one of the foremost branches of surgery today. Hundreds of thousands of patients are in need of an organ transplant. However, large amounts of transplant organs are being discarded due to short preservation times. Ice-free cryopreservation is a method that is more cost-effective and has a lower risk of damage to the tissues than conventionally frozen cryopreservation. We tested the ice-free cryopreservation method, hypothesizing that it allows for storage while mitigating the immune response of the transplant. Fresh, nonpreserved porcine arteries were compared with ice-free cryopreserved arteries through histopathology, immunochemistry, and MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry. The arteries were examined for N-linked glycan signatures correlating to inflammation and an immune response. In the preliminary results of the study, 60 N-linked glycans have been mapped across the arterial tissues. Some of these N-linked glycans have shown significantly greater presences in arteries expected to have increased immune responses. Matching the MALDI images with the immunohistochemistry stains will allow us to determine which N-linked glycans are correlated to inflammation. We can use the intensities of the N-linked glycan signatures to quantify the immune response in each of the arteries. Then, we will then be able to determine whether ice-free cryopreservation allows storage while mitigating the immune response of the transplant.

Location

Neville 322

Start Date

4-14-2018 11:15 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

COinS
 
Apr 14th, 11:15 AM

Mitigating the Immune Response of Transplant Tissues

Neville 322

Organ transplantation is one of the foremost branches of surgery today. Hundreds of thousands of patients are in need of an organ transplant. However, large amounts of transplant organs are being discarded due to short preservation times. Ice-free cryopreservation is a method that is more cost-effective and has a lower risk of damage to the tissues than conventionally frozen cryopreservation. We tested the ice-free cryopreservation method, hypothesizing that it allows for storage while mitigating the immune response of the transplant. Fresh, nonpreserved porcine arteries were compared with ice-free cryopreserved arteries through histopathology, immunochemistry, and MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry. The arteries were examined for N-linked glycan signatures correlating to inflammation and an immune response. In the preliminary results of the study, 60 N-linked glycans have been mapped across the arterial tissues. Some of these N-linked glycans have shown significantly greater presences in arteries expected to have increased immune responses. Matching the MALDI images with the immunohistochemistry stains will allow us to determine which N-linked glycans are correlated to inflammation. We can use the intensities of the N-linked glycan signatures to quantify the immune response in each of the arteries. Then, we will then be able to determine whether ice-free cryopreservation allows storage while mitigating the immune response of the transplant.