TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultured thymus tissue implantation promotes donor-specific tolerance to allogeneic heart transplants
AU - Kwun, Jean
AU - Li, Jie
AU - Rouse, Clay
AU - Park, Jae Berm
AU - Farris, Alton B.
AU - Kuchibhatla, Maragatha
AU - Turek, Joseph W.
AU - Knechtle, Stuart J.
AU - Kirk, Allan D.
AU - Markert, M. Louise
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, American Society for Clinical Investigation.
PY - 2020/6/4
Y1 - 2020/6/4
N2 - Eighty-six infants born without a thymus have been treated with allogeneic cultured thymus tissue implantation (CTTI). These infants, who lack T cells and are profoundly immunodeficient at birth, after CTTI from an unmatched donor develop T cells similar to those of recipient that are tolerant to both their own major histocompatibility antigens and those of the donor. We tested use of CTTI with the goal of inducing tolerance to unmatched heart transplants in immunocompetent rats. We thymectomized and T cell–depleted Lewis rats. The rats were then given cultured thymus tissue from F1 (Lewis × Dark Agouti) under the kidney capsule and vascularized Dark Agouti (DA) heart transplants in the abdomen. Cyclosporine was administered for 4 months. The control group did not receive CTTI. Recipients with CTTI showed repopulation of naive and recent thymic emigrant CD4 T cells; controls had none. Recipients of CTTI did not reject DA cardiac allografts. Control animals did not reject DA grafts, due to lack of functional T cells. To confirm donor-specific unresponsiveness, MHC-mismatched Brown Norway (BN) hearts were transplanted 6 months after the initial DA heart transplant. LW rats with LWxDA CTTI rejected the third-party BN hearts (mean survival time 10 days); controls did not. CTTI recipients produced antibody against third-party BN donor but not against the DA thymus donor, demonstrating humoral donor-specific tolerance. Taken together, F1(LWxDA) CTTI given to Lewis rats resulted in specific tolerance to the allogeneic DA MHC expressed in the donor thymus, with resulting long-term survival of DA heart transplants after withdrawal of all immunosuppression.
AB - Eighty-six infants born without a thymus have been treated with allogeneic cultured thymus tissue implantation (CTTI). These infants, who lack T cells and are profoundly immunodeficient at birth, after CTTI from an unmatched donor develop T cells similar to those of recipient that are tolerant to both their own major histocompatibility antigens and those of the donor. We tested use of CTTI with the goal of inducing tolerance to unmatched heart transplants in immunocompetent rats. We thymectomized and T cell–depleted Lewis rats. The rats were then given cultured thymus tissue from F1 (Lewis × Dark Agouti) under the kidney capsule and vascularized Dark Agouti (DA) heart transplants in the abdomen. Cyclosporine was administered for 4 months. The control group did not receive CTTI. Recipients with CTTI showed repopulation of naive and recent thymic emigrant CD4 T cells; controls had none. Recipients of CTTI did not reject DA cardiac allografts. Control animals did not reject DA grafts, due to lack of functional T cells. To confirm donor-specific unresponsiveness, MHC-mismatched Brown Norway (BN) hearts were transplanted 6 months after the initial DA heart transplant. LW rats with LWxDA CTTI rejected the third-party BN hearts (mean survival time 10 days); controls did not. CTTI recipients produced antibody against third-party BN donor but not against the DA thymus donor, demonstrating humoral donor-specific tolerance. Taken together, F1(LWxDA) CTTI given to Lewis rats resulted in specific tolerance to the allogeneic DA MHC expressed in the donor thymus, with resulting long-term survival of DA heart transplants after withdrawal of all immunosuppression.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085961354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1172/jci.insight.129983
DO - 10.1172/jci.insight.129983
M3 - Article
C2 - 32352934
AN - SCOPUS:85085961354
SN - 2379-3708
VL - 5
JO - JCI Insight
JF - JCI Insight
IS - 11
M1 - 129983
ER -