title: The mouse lymph node as an ectopic transplantation site for multiple tissues.
abstract: Cell-based therapy has been viewed as a promising alternative to organ transplantation, but cell transplantation aimed at organ repair is not always possible. Here we show that the mouse lymph node can support the engraftment and growth of healthy cells from multiple tissues. Direct injection of hepatocytes into a single mouse lymph node generated enough ectopic liver mass to rescue the survival of mice with lethal metabolic disease. Furthermore, thymuses transplanted into single lymph nodes of athymic nude mice generated functional immune systems that were capable of rejecting allogeneic and xenogeneic grafts. Additionally, pancreatic islets injected into the lymph nodes of diabetic mice restored normal glucose control. Collectively, these results suggest the practical approach of targeting lymph nodes to restore, maintain or improve tissue and organ functions.
authors.affiliation: McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Komori
authors.forename: Lindsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boone
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: DeWard
authors.forename: Toshitaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoppo
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lagasse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002828:Choristoma / Q000473:pathology; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000628:therapy; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D007267:Injections; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000502:physiology; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation; D008099:Liver / Q000502:physiology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009928:Organ Specificity; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins