Infiltrating CD45RC- T cells are associated with immunologic unresponsiveness induced by donor class I major histocompatibility complex antigens in rats.

Abstract

It has previously been shown that a single intravenous injection of freshly heparinized donor-specific blood transfusion (DST) before transplantation significantly prolongs the survival of fully allogeneic ACI (RT1a)-to-LEW(RT1(1)) rat hepatic allografts. Additionally, we have shown that pretreatment of LEW rats with PVG.r1 blood, which shares only the RT1.A major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region with ACI, significantly prolongs the survival of ACI hepatic allografts. In this study, we report the cellular identity of hepatic allograft leukocyte infiltrates following transplantation. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis revealed that CD4+ T cells infiltrating liver allografts could be divided into two subsets, CD45RC- CD4+ and CD45RC+ CD4+ T cells, and that the ratio of CD45RC- CD4+/CD45RC+ CD4+ T cells was significantly higher in hepatic allografts of recipients pretreated with DST or PVG.r1 blood as compared to untreated allografts. Further, CD8+ T cells that accumulated in the liver grafts could be similarly divided into two subsets, and the ratio of CD45RC- CD8+/CD45RC+ CD8+ T cells was also significantly higher in hepatic allografts of recipients pretreated with DST or PVG.r1 blood. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that CD45RC- CD4+ T cells harvested from hepatic allografts pretreated with PVG.r1 blood expressed interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10), but not interleukin-2 (IL-2) or interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). In contrast, CD45RC- CD8+ T cells from hepatic allografts pretreated with PVG.r1 blood expressed IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-lambda, but not IL-2. These results indicate that the CD45RC leukocyte common antigen could be used to differentiate CD4+ and CD8+ T cells following pretreatment with DST or PVG.r1 blood. Persistent infiltration of CD45RC- CD4+ and CD45RC- CD8+ T cells, capable of secreting Th2-type cytokines may prevent allograft rejection by causing immunologic unresponsiveness.