1.The role of memory T cells in acute rejection of heart transplantation following skin transplantation
Hua LIANG ; Chongxian LIAO ; Zhi LIN ; Tao SHU ; Qian YANG ; Zhonggui SAN
Chinese Journal of Organ Transplantation 2012;33(3):170-173
Objective The presence of alloreactive memory T cells in recipient is a critical handicap to achieve transplantation tolerance.To make a mouse model which mimics the present transplant patient is important for research at this subject.Thus,we developed a novel re-transplant model and compared the alloresponse in this model with that in the conventional memory T cellstransfer model (transfer control).Methods The re-transplant model was established via microsurgery and vessel cannula techniques,and the experiment was composed of three groups:the re- transplant group,memory T cell-transfer group (transfer control) and the conventional blank group (blank control).The research indexes included survival time of donor heart,rejection score of allograft,and detection of proliferation and differentiation of the alloreactive memory/effector T cells by by flow cytometry (FCM) and in vitro mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR).Results The median survival time of allograft in re-transplant recipients was significantly shortened compared to that of transfer control,but there was no significant difference in rejection score of graft between them (the score in retransplant group was the most intense of the three groups). Moreover, proliferation and differentiation of the alloreactive effector T cells were more intensive in re- transplant recipients than in the transfer control,which was confirmed by in vitro MLR and by FCM of the splenocytes for detecting CD44highCD62L-memory/effector phenotype cells.Conclusion The recall alloresponse in retransplantation is more intensive than that in memory-transfer setting and this re-transplant model is more close to the clinic situation than the memory-transfer model in rodents.