History of Transplantation
Humans have long realized the possibilities unleashed by transplantation of organs and tissue. As early as the 6th Century BC, the Indian surgeon Sushruta described how to reconstruct disfiguring facial wounds by transplanting skin and cartilage from one place on the body to the other. Below is a list of significant events in the development of transplantation as a viable clinical procedure that occurred over the past century.
Read about Noble Prize winners who have contributed to our knowledge of organ transplantation.
1901
Karl Landsteiner discovers human blood groups.
1902
Alexis Carrel develops techniques for suturing blood vessels together; later, he is the first to describe transplant rejection.
1905
First successful human corneal transplant performed by Eduard Zirm.
1914–1918
Major steps in skin transplantation occurred during WWI, e.g., the tubed pedicle graft.
1930s
Peter Gorer and George Snell, at The Jackson Laboratory, discover histocompatibility antigens in mice.
1939–1945
Major advances in reconstructive surgical techniques during WWII.
1953
Peter Medawar, Rupert Billingham, and Leslie Brent publish their seminal paper, “Actively Acquired Tolerance of Foreign Cells.”
1954
First successful kidney transplant performed, between identical twins, by Joseph Murray.
1956
First successful bone marrow transplant performed in recipient twin with leukemia, by Donnall Thomas. The recipient twin was treated with total body irradiation before the transplant; the procedures resulted in complete remission of leukemia.
1957
George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion develop the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine.
1958
Discovery of the first HLA antigen by Jean Dausset.
1962
First successful reimplantation— reattachment of severed limb, resulting in limited function and feeling—performed by a surgical team led by Ronald Malt.
1966
First successful pancreas transplant performed by William Kelly and Richard Lillehei.
1967
First successful heart transplant performed by Christiaan Barnard. First successful liver transplant performed by Thomas Starzl.
1968
First bone marrow transplant using related donor for treatment of a noncancerous condition (severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome).
1971
Cyclosporin, a metabolite of the fungus Tolypocladium inflatum, is recognized to have immunosuppressive properties.
1973
First bone marrow transplant using an unrelated donor. The recipient was a child with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome. After the seventh bone marrow infusion, hematologic function normalized.
1981
First successful heart/lung transplant performed by Bruce Reitz.
1983
First successful lung transplant performed by Joel Cooper. Cyclosporin (Sandimmune) approved for prevention of transplant rejection.
1990
Tacrolimus (Prograf) approved for prevention of transplant rejection— has immunosuppressive properties very similar to cyclosporin but is 10 to 100 times more potent on a per gram basis.
1995
Mycophenolate (CellCept) approved for the prevention of transplant rejection.
1997
Daclizumab (Zenapax) approved for preventing transplant rejection.
1998
First successful cord blood stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor to a child with sickle cell anemia.
1999
First successful transplants of pancreatic islets using the Edmonton Protocol, by James Shapiro. The transplant recipients had complications of Type I diabetes that could not be managed with insulin injections.
2005
First living donor pancreatic islet transplant from a 56-year-old woman to her 27-year-old diabetic daughter. The transplanted cells began producing insulin within minutes.
First successful partial face transplant.
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