Harefield Hospital is a centre of excellence for thoracic organ transplantation. The one year survival of transplanted hearts and lungs has improved considerably in recent years, and to a large extent this is due to introduction of new and powerful immunosuppressive drugs. However, these treatments have not impacted the long term survival of transplanted hearts and lungs. Long term graft survival is limited by occurrence of a graft occlusive disease known as cardiac allograft vascular disease following cardiac transplantation and obliterative bronchiolitis following lung transplantation. Although the causes of these complications include antigen-dependent and antigen-independent mechanisms, the disease is often called chronic rejection. The aim of this group is to investigate the immunological pathways that contribute to chronic rejection. The group is particularly interested in the role of endothelial cells in this process.

Recent publications