Introduction

Abstract

Joseph Murray performed the first successful kidney transplantation in 1954 by transplanting a kidney from a donor to his identical twin (1). After that, attempts were made to perform transplantation between non-identical twins after total body irritation in order to avoid the harmful immune response of the body against the graft. This had only limited success. The introduction of immunosuppressive drugs with azathioprine in combination with steroids as a therapy against organ rejections was a first breakthrough in the history of human transplantation (2).