title: Analyses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in operational tolerance after pediatric living donor liver transplantation.
abstract: Operational tolerance (graft acceptance in an immunosuppression (IS)-free environment) after living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) could occur by our elective protocol in some patients. There is, nevertheless, no reliable parameter to monitor patients who may discontinue IS without a risk of rejection. To identify such parameters, we systemically phenotyped peripheral blood mononuclear cells from operationally tolerant patients. An increase was observed in the frequency of CD4+CD25high+ cells, B cells and Vdelta1/Vdelta2 gammadeltaT-cells ratio in operationally tolerant patients (Gr-tol; n = 12), compared with those from age-matched volunteers (Gr-vol; n = 24) or patients on IS (Gr-IS; n = 19). The frequency of NK cells was decreased in Gr-tol, compared with those in Gr-IS or Gr-vol. The frequency of NKT cells was decreased after LDLT, compared with that in Gr-vol. Although the contribution of those subsets to the tolerant state remains elusive, the results may provide important clues for reliable indicators of tolerance after LDLT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation and Immunology, Horizontal Medical Research Organization, Transplant Tolerance Unit, Kyoto University, Faculty of medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koshiba
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshizawa
authors.forename: Yukihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yonekawa
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Mikiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Takahide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawamoto
authors.forename: Yoshimasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Shimon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Nagahiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Minato
authors.forename: Kathryn J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000502:physiology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD