Sensitized B lymphocytes contribute to acute allograft rejection.
The contribution of sensitized B lymphocytes to second-set allograft rejection has been relatively ignored despite their regular appearance in rejecting allografts. This study presents evidence that adoptively transferred sensitized B lymphocytes accelerate the rate of acute allograft rejection in a sublethally irradiated rat cardiac allograft model. Donors of reconstituting B lymphocytes were sensitized with three consecutive ACI skin grafts. Transplantation of a heart from an ACI strain donor into a Lewis strain recipient (complete RT1 mismatch) results in rejection in 6.8 +/- 0.3 days. When the allograft donor and recipient are irradiated with 650 cGy prior to transplantation, rejection occurs at 31.5 +/- 3.0 days. Irradiated recipients reconstituted with 10(6) syngeneic sensitized splenic B cells reject their grafts in 20.1 +/- 2.0 days, while reconstitution with 10(6) unsensitized syngeneic B cells has no effect on the rate of rejection (P = 0.0007). These data strongly suggest that sensitized B lymphocytes have a marked accelerating effect on the tempo of allograft rejection.
Gritsch
H A
HA
Division of Urology, UCLA School of Medicine 90024.
Grimm
P C
PC
Ettenger
R B
RB
Rosenthal
J T
JT
D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D007114:Immunization; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D000906:Antibodies