Increasing transplant mass results in long-term allograft survival and recovery from transplant vasculopathy.
Late allograft rejection due to transplant vasculopathy continues to be a major clinical problem. Increasing the ratio of donor transplant size to recipient weight has been shown to reduce the incidence of late allograft failure. Using a murine pancreas transplant model we have tested the hypothesis that increasing the donor transplant size in a recipient can promote long-term allograft survival by promoting recovery from transplant vasculopathy. Recipients of an allograft that showed extensive vasculopathy were transplanted with a second donor transplant. The effect of the second allograft on the vasculopathy present in the first graft was measured. Transplanting a second allograft reversed all signs of ongoing rejection, including transplant vasculopathy, resulting in long-term survival of the first graft. Vasculopathy was only reversed if the first and second grafts were from the same mouse strain, suggesting an antigen-specific mechanism. However, the recovery of the first graft was not associated with antigen-specific peripheral tolerance.
Hall
De Shon
DS
Department of Immunology, IMM-23, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
Roberts
Edda M
EM
Ferguson
Sharon
S
Wang
Zhuangzhi
Z
Davies
Joanna D
JD
D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000503:physiopathology; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D006648:Histocompatibility; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D010179:Pancreas / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D016035:Pancreas Transplantation / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D019737:Transplants