title: Graft-Versus-Host Disease Following Liver Transplantation: Development of a High-Incidence Rat Model and a Selective Prevention Method.
abstract: Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) following liver transplantation (LT) is a rare but serious complication with no presently available animal model and no preventive measures. To develop a rat model of GvHD after LT (LT-GvHD), we preconditioned hosts with sublethal irradiation plus reduction of natural killer (NK) cells with anti-CD8α mAb treatment, which invariably resulted in acute LT-GvHD. Compared with those in the peripheral counterpart, graft CD4+CD25-passenger T cells showed lower alloreactivities in mixed leukocyte culture. Immunohistology revealed that donor CD4+T cells migrated and formed clusters with host dendritic cells in secondary lymphoid organs, with early expansion and subsequent accumulation in target organs. For selectively preventing GvHD, donor livers were perfused ex vivo with organ preservation media containing anti-TCRαβ mAb. T cell-depleted livers almost completely suppressed clinical GvHD such that host rats survived for >100 days. Our results showed that passenger T cells could develop typical LT-GvHD if resistant cells such as host radiosensitive cells and host radioresistant NK cells were suppressed. Selective ex vivo T cell depletion prevented LT-GvHD without affecting host immunity or graft function. This method might be applicable to clinical LT in prediagnosed high-risk donor-recipient combinations and for analyzing immunoregulatory mechanisms of the liver.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy (Macro), Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.|Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy (Macro), Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ueta
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy (Macro), Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy (Macro), Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kitazawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy (Macro), Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawanobori
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy (Macro), Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015994:Incidence; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
keywords: basic (laboratory) research/science; graft-versus-host disease (GVHD); immunohistochemistry; immunosuppression/immune modulation; immunosuppressive regimens; liver transplantation/hepatology; natural killer (NK) cells/NK receptors; organ perfusion and preservation; pathology/histopathology; translational research/science