@article{gill2013immunomodulatory,
  title = {Immuno-modulatory Role of Indoleamine 2, 3-Dioxygenase in Allogeneic Islet and Skin Transplantation},
  author = {Pavandeep Gill and Reza Jalili and Aziz Ghahary},
  year = 2013,
  url = {https://ibimapublishing.com/articles/IMMU/2013/235635/},
  journal = {Research in Immunology: An International Journal},
  volume = 2013 (2013),
  pages = 17,
  doi = 10.5171/2013.235635,
  abstract = {Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) is a naturally occurring immunomodulatory agent that has been found to play a key role in preventing rejection of the semi-allogeneic fetus during pregnancy. It is a cytosolic monomeric hemoprotein enzyme that degrades tryptophan, the least available essential amino acid in the body, through the kynurenine metabolic pathway. This causes a regulatory effect on T cells by, as it has been proposed, causing toxic tryptophan metabolites to accumulate and a tryptophan deficient microenvironment to form. By helping with the induction of T cell unresponsiveness, IDO has been shown to establish immune tolerance and control autoreactive immune responses. Thus, the application of IDO’s ability to do this may have a huge potential in improving the rates of acceptance of insulin producing islet cell or skin graft transplants in patients suffering from conditions such as type I diabetes or burn injuries, respectively. The discovery of an agent able to do this is especially important since currently used systemic immunosuppressive drugs carry many side effects and cause complications that make the long term use of these agents problematic after transplantation. This review discusses the immunomodulatory role of IDO and the very promising results of studies done by our research group on the application of this enzyme in islet and skin transplantation.   },
  keywords = {Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase, skin transplantation, islet transplantation},
  note = Article ID: 235635
}