Pre-transplant autoimmunity and lung allograft dysfunction

The objective of this proposal is to identify non-HLA lung tissue specific antigens that would be the target of pre-existing antibodies in the recipients. Hypothesis 1) The end-stage lung disease in patients awaiting lung transplantation leads to an inflammatory milieu predisposing to the development of autoimmunity against lung-specific antigens; 2) Pre-existing autoantibodies in lung transplant recipients can bind to the lung-specific antigens in donor lungs following transplantation and lead to PGD; 3) Pre-existing autoantibodies are not detected by the contemporary methods used for cross-matching and HLA antibody testing.