Contributions of direct and indirect alloresponses to chronic rejection of kidney allografts in nonhuman primates

J Immunol. 2011 Nov 1;187(9):4589-97. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1003253. Epub 2011 Sep 28.

Abstract

The relative contribution of direct and indirect allorecognition pathways to chronic rejection of allogeneic organ transplants in primates remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated T and B cell alloresponses in cynomolgus monkeys that had received combined kidney/bone marrow allografts and myeloablative immunosuppressive treatments. We measured donor-specific direct and indirect T cell responses and alloantibody production in monkeys (n = 5) that did not reject their transplant acutely but developed chronic humoral rejection (CHR) and in tolerant recipients (n = 4) that never displayed signs of CHR. All CHR recipients exhibited high levels of anti-donor Abs and mounted potent direct T cell alloresponses in vitro. Such direct alloreactivity could be detected for more than 1 y after transplantation. In contrast, only two of five monkeys with CHR had a detectable indirect alloresponse. No indirect alloresponse by T cells and no alloantibody responses were found in any of the tolerant monkeys. Only one of four tolerant monkeys displayed a direct T cell alloresponse. These observations indicate that direct T cell alloresponses can be sustained for prolonged periods posttransplantation and result in alloantibody production and chronic rejection of kidney transplants, even in the absence of detectable indirect alloreactivity.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Chronic Disease
  • Coculture Techniques
  • Graft Rejection / genetics
  • Graft Rejection / immunology*
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use
  • Isoantibodies / biosynthesis
  • Isoantigens / immunology
  • Kidney Transplantation / immunology*
  • Kidney Transplantation / pathology
  • Macaca fascicularis
  • Radiation Chimera / immunology
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Signal Transduction / immunology
  • Transplantation Conditioning / methods
  • Transplantation Tolerance / genetics
  • Transplantation Tolerance / immunology

Substances

  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Isoantibodies
  • Isoantigens