Adoptive transfer of immunity to hepatitis B virus in mice by bone marrow transplantation from immune donors.
Recipients of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation are immunosuppressed as a result of their primary disease and by myeloablative therapy. Such patients are dependent on multiple blood products and are at risk for hepatitis B virus infection. Active immunization against hepatitis B in the immediate pre- and post-transplant periods is ineffective, presumably because of decreased T cell-dependent B-cell responses. This study was designed to evaluate, in a mouse model system, the transfer of immunity against hepatitis B to bone marrow transplant recipients through immunization of bone marrow donors against hepatitis B before transplantation. Bone marrow donor BALB/c mice were immunized with a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. Seroconversion to HBs antibody occurred within 4 wk of primary immunization, and antibody levels in treated donor mice rose above 300 mIU/ml after a single booster injection. Bone marrow recipient mice, conditioned by sublethal irradiation, were injected intravenously with bone marrow cells obtained from syngeneic HBs antibody-positive immune donors. Antibody was detected in 10% of bone marrow recipients within 30 days of transplantation and in 56% 1 mo after a booster injection that led to a secondary rise in HBs antibody. Adoptive transfer of immunity to hepatitis B also occurred after transplantation of T cell-depleted bone marrow cells from hepatitis B-immune donors, albeit at a lower HBs antibody level. These results indicate that immunity to hepatitis B can be transferred in mice by bone marrow transplantation from hepatitis B-immune donors to immunosuppressed recipients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Division of Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
D
D
Shouval
R
R
Adler
Y
Y
Ilan
D000818:Animals; D016465:Bone Marrow Purging; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology*; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D007117:Immunization, Secondary; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic
D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic