Creation of the "thymoheart" allograft: implantation of autologous thymus into the heart prior to procurement.
BACKGROUND
A state of tolerance may be more easily achieved if fully vascularized and functional donor thymus is transferred to the recipient at the time of whole organ transplantation.


METHODS
A composite "thymoheart" allograft was created by implanting autologous thymus into a donor heart 60-90 days before organ procurement. Successful intracardiac engraftment of autologous thymus was documented by histology and by flow cytometric analysis.


RESULTS
Histology of the thymic autografts at explantation revealed viable thymus with preservation of normal thymic architecture. Cells retrieved from thymic autografts 60 days after implantation exhibited the same MHC class I and class II staining profiles by flow cytometry as cells taken from the residual native thymus.


CONCLUSIONS
We have created a novel composite organ that confers vascularized and functional donor thymus to heart allograft recipients at the time of transplantation without affecting cardiac function.
Lambrigts
D
D
Transplantation Biology Research Center, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02114, USA.
Menard
M T
MT
Alexandre
G P
GP
Franssen
C
C
Meurisse
M
M
Van Calster
P
P
Coignoul
F
F
Mawulawde
K
K
Choo
J K
JK
Yamada
K
K
Erhorn
A E
AE
Slisz
J K
JK
Chiotellis
P
P
Aretz
H T
HT
Sachs
D H
DH
Madsen
J C
JC
D000818:Animals; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000379:methods*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000379:methods
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II