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Peter S
April 7th, 2010 @3:03 pm  

Rejection is an adaptive immune response and is mediated through both T cell mediated and humoral immune (antibodies) mechanisms. The number of mismatched alleles determines the speed and magnitude of the rejection response.

However – Components of the innate system can mount a rapid and devastating form of rejection, called hyperacute rejection, but that generally occurs when there is a large mismatch between tissues, such as occurs when transplants occur between species.

Although T cells have a critical role in acute rejection, the up-regulation of proinflammatory mediators in the allograft is now recognized to occur before the T cell response; this early inflammation following engraftment is due to the innate response to tissue injury independent of the adaptive immune system. These innate mechanisms alone do not appear sufficient to lead to graft rejection itself. However, they are important for optimal adaptive immune responses to the graft.

Bottom line – both are involved
References :
http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Transplant_rejection
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/432209-overview