Question

Assertion (A): Tissue matching and blood group matching are essential before undergoing any organ transplantation.

Reason (R): Transplanted tissue has antigens which stimulate the specific immune response of the recipient.

• A. Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
• B. Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A
• C. A is true but R is false
• D. Both A and R are false

Answer 1

The correct option is A Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A

Organ transplantation is the transfer of an organ from a donor to a recipient.
Tissue matching(MHC Matches) and blood group matching are essential before undertaking any graft/transplant as the immune system is able to differentiate ‘self’ and ‘nonself’ and the cell-mediated immune response plays an important role in recognising non self tissue that leads to graft rejection.

Every cell as MHC complex (major histocompatibilty complex, a protein receptor) which is recognised by T cells that helps them to differentiate the foreign tissues from self, attacking and killing the non self.

As the transplanted organ is a foreign substance to the recipient body. Therefore, it will be carrying different MHC protein. Hence, immune response is elicited by the body of the recipient against the new organ, thereby, destroying the organ. This is known as graft rejection.

To avoid this, the immune system of the recipient is suppressed with the help of immunosuppressive agents/drugs.