Abstract:

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) continues to limit the long-term success of cardiac transplantation and has become a leading cause for death and retransplantation in patients who survive beyond the first year after heart transplantation. At present, it is considered that both immunologic and nonimmunologic risk factors contribute to the development of CAV by causing endothelial dysfunction and injury, eventually leading to progressive intimal thicking and ischemic failure of the cardiac allograft. Chemokines and their receptors may participate in regulating the local immune response of the graft. Among them, chemokine receptor-5 (CCR5) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of CAV, but the mechanism is unclear. So far, the therapy for CAV has been relatively limited, but there have been some new findings with the research progress of CCR5, which provides a new direction for the treatment and prevention of CAV.

Key words: cardiac allograft vasculopathy, chemokine receptor-5, immune response