Prolongation of survival of rat cardiac allografts by T cell vaccination.
Administration of attenuated, activated autoimmune T lymphocytes to syngeneic mice and rats has been shown to prevent or induce remission of experimental autoimmune diseases specific for the autoimmune T cells. The process has been termed "T cell vaccination." In a recent study, T cell vaccination was done using T cells sensitized to rat alloantigens. The procedure produced a significant reduction of the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) against allogeneic cells. The reduction in MLR was not specific: Vaccination with T cells specific for stimulator cells of one allotype led to a reduced MLR stimulated by cells of another allotype. The present study was undertaken to examine whether T cell vaccination can induce tolerance to transplantation antigens in vivo. We used the model of heterotopic cardiac transplantation in rats. We now report that vaccinating rats with syngeneic, activated, alloantigen-primed T lymphocytes significantly prolonged survival of rat cardiac allografts. The effect of T cell vaccination was most evident when the T cells had been obtained from rats specifically sensitized against the donor rats: Brown-Norway (BN) allografts in control Wistar rats survived 8.5 +/- 0.4 d while BN allografts survived 29.2 +/- 7.1 d in Wistar rats that had been vaccinated with Wistar anti-BN cells. Vaccination of Wistar rats with Wistar anti-hooded T cells prolonged survival of BN heart allografts to a lesser but significant degree (13.0 +/- 1.1 d). Thus, T cell vaccination of recipients can prolong survival of allografts.
Shapira
O M
OM
Department of Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Mor
E
E
Reshef
T
T
Pfeffermann
R A
RA
Cohen
I R
IR
D000818:Animals; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000276:immunology*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014611:Vaccination
D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens