Mark Cattral

Research Synopsis

Dendritic cells (DC): The focus of the Cattral lab has been to understand dendritic cell ontogeny and how the tumour microenvironment (TME) influences developmental fate decisions by DC. With CIHR’s support, our studies of endogenous DCs from cancers, which, while time-consuming and difficult to perform, have led to novel discoveries that have advanced the field.

Islet Transplantation: With Drs. Rajotte, Warnock and Kneteman in Edmonton, Dr. Cattral showed that cyclosporine as a single agent could prevent rejection of highly purified islets in outbred animals and that cryopreservation did not adversely affect MHC antigen expression or duration of graft survival. The results from these preclinical animal studies contributed to the success of the clinical islet program in Edmonton.

Pancreas transplantation: Dr. Cattral established the largest whole-organ pancreas transplantation program in Canada. As of December 2020, the program has assessed over 1500 patients and has performed over 700 pancreas transplants. The program currently performs 40-50 pancreas transplants per year.

Liver transplantation: The Toronto liver transplantation program has performed over 4500 liver transplants. It is currently the largest and most active program in North America, performing 230-240 liver transplants per year.