title: Donor dendritic cell persistence in organ allograft recipients in the absence of immunosuppression.
abstract: Donor-derived leukocytes are known to persist in the peripheral blood of organ allograft recipients after withdrawal of all immunosuppressive drug therapy and can exert a donor-specific veto effect. Antigen-presenting cells (APC), in particular dendritic cells (DC), have been proposed as a candidate for this veto leukocyte. Myeloid DC were derived from the peripheral blood of two ion-compliant organ transplant recipients: D. S., a heart transplant recipient, and J. M., a liver transplant recipient. Donor-specific signal was enriched in the cultured DC fraction relative to whole blood for both patients. The clinical outcome in each patient was different: D. S. lost his heart allograft due to biopsy-proven acute and chronic rejection 2.5 years after discontinuing anti-rejection medication; J. M. continues to maintain adequate liver function. The results have important implications for the planned withdrawal of immunosuppression in tolerance protocols as DC may play a role either in the maintenance of tolerance or immune activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. peta+@pitt.edu
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Burlingham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000276:immunology