title: Alloreactive CD4 T lymphocytes responsible for acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease are contained within the CD45RChigh but not the CD45RClow subset.
abstract: Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a major complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and occurs when donor T cells react with histo-incompatible recipient's antigens. In the present study, we analyzed the contribution of CD4 T cell subsets, defined according to their CD45RC expression level, in the development of acute and chronic GvHD. For this purpose, we used the model of GvHD induced in rats when parental lymphocytes are transferred to irradiated (LEWxBN) F1 hybrid recipients. We showed that parental CD45RC(high) (naive cells) CD4 T cells induced both acute and chronic GvHD while CD45RC(low) (memory cells) subset did not. In vitro, only CD45RC(high) CD4 T cells proliferated and produced cytokines in response to alloantigen stimulation. LEW and BN CD45RC(high) CD4 T cells produced different cytokine profiles in response to in vitro allostimulation, which could explain their ability to induce different forms of GvHD. Finally, we showed that memory CD45RC(low) CD4 T cells, known to contain regulatory T cells, were unable to prevent GvHD induction. Together these data show that memory CD45RC(low) CD4 T cells do not contain functional alloreactive T cells and suggest that selective transfusion of donor memory cells could greatly improve post-transplant immune reconstitution without risk of GvHD induction.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U563, Institut Fédératif de Recherche (IFR) 30, Hôpital Purpan and Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Xystrakis
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Anne S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Dejean
authors.forename: Talal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alsaati
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Druet
authors.forename: Abdelhadi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saoudi
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000276:immunology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000276:immunology; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D016207:Cytokines; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens