Survival of MHC-deficient mouse heterotopic cardiac allografts.
The immunologic mechanisms involved in the destruction of murine cardiac allografts were evaluated using MHC-deficient mice. Specifically, we examined the survival of immediately vascularized heterotopic adult cardiac grafts deficient in MHC class I, MHC class II, or both MHC class I and II antigens following transplantation to allogeneic hosts. We observed indefinite cardiac graft survival when donors lacked MHC class II or both MHC I and II antigens. In parallel experiments, we studied the survival of cardiac grafts harvested from normal donors in recipients severely depleted of either CD4 (class II-deficient mice) or CD8 (class I-deficient mice) T cells. Graft survival was dramatically prolonged in the absence of CD4 but not CD8 T cells. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the interaction of host CD4 T cells with donor class II antigens is critical to the rejection of murine cardiac grafts.
Department of Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
L
L
Campos
A
A
Naji
B C
BC
Deli
J H
JH
Kern
J I
JI
Kim
C F
CF
Barker
J F
JF
Markmann
D000818:Animals; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000502:physiology; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000276:immunology*; D006239:Haplotypes; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009333:Neck; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II