REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation
T Cell-Mediated Immune Responses in Xenotransplantation: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Key Laboratory of Organ Regeneration and Transplantation, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
- 2Department of Dermatology and Venereology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Xenotransplantation has emerged as a promising approach to alleviate the shortage of donor organs. While advances in porcine gene-editing technologies have largely overcome hyperacute rejection, the persistent challenge of T cell-and antibody-mediated rejection reactions continues to impede the long-term survival and clinical translation of xenografts. T cells connect innate and adaptive immunity and are the main effector cells in cell-mediated rejection reactions. The antigen recognition, activation, and effector differentiation of T cells have a crucial impact on the clinical outcomes of xenotransplantation. This review focuses on the immune response process of T cells in xenotransplantation and discusses potential strategies for T cell-mediated rejection reactions. Future exploration of efficient and safe approaches for inducing immune tolerance will be a key direction for prolonging the survival of xenografts.
Keywords: immunological tolerance, Immunosuppression, T cell-mediated rejection, Xenoantigen, xenotransplantation
Received: 15 Dec 2025; Accepted: 05 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ziyue and Guomu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wang Ziyue
Liu Guomu
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