Donor lymphoid organs are a major site of alloreactive T-cell priming following intestinal transplantation.
We hypothesized that lymphoid organs within intestinal allografts contribute to their immunogenicity. Consistent with this hypothesis recipient T cells rapidly migrated to the lymph nodes and Peyer's patches of syngeneic and allogeneic intestinal grafts such that at 24 h approximately 50% of the lymphocytes isolated from donor lymphoid organs were of recipient origin. However, only in the lymphoid organs of allografts did recipient T cells display an activated phenotype, proliferate and produce IFNgamma. Rejection of allogeneic intestines lacking lymphoid organs was dramatically impaired in splenectomized, lymph node-deficient recipients compared to lymph node bearing, wild-type allogeneic intestines. This demonstrates the important role of donor lymphoid organs in the rejection process. Furthermore, recipient T cells proliferated more extensively and produced more IFNgamma in donor lymphoid organs than in recipient lymphoid organs, indicating that donor lymphoid organs play a dominant role in initiating the recipient anti-donor immune response following intestinal transplantation.
Wang
J
J
Emory Transplant Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Dong
Y
Y
Sun
J-Z
JZ
Taylor
R T
RT
Guo
C
C
Alegre
M-L
ML
Williams
I R
IR
Newell
K A
KA
D000818:Animals; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005838:Genotype; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology; D007422:Intestines / Q000637:transplantation*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D023421:Models, Animal; D010581:Peyer's Patches / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000276:immunology*