EVIDENCE THAT RAT RENAL ALLOGRAFTS ARE REJECTED BY CYTOTOXIC T CELLS AND NOT BY NONSPECIFIC EFFECTORS

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Infiltrating cells were harvested on day 5 from rat renal allografts (LEWxBN into LEW) that were either rejecting (untreated) or healthy (cyclosporine[CsA]treated or passively enhanced with LEW anti-BN serum). Similar numbers of cells were harvested from rejecting (mean 11x107, range 8–15x107), CsA-treated (6x107, 5–7x107), and enhanced (9x107, 7–10x107) grafts. These cells were a heterogeneous population of mononuclear cells. Fluorescencep-activated cell sorter analysis after labeling with a range of monoclonal antibodies showed that they all labeled with MRC OX-1 (against the leukocite-common antigen), and that about one-third of infiltrating cells bound MRC OX-19 (pan-T cells) and one-third bound MRC OX-12 (B cells), with little difference between the rejecting, CsA-treated or enhanced grafts. However, the ratio of the numbers of W3/25-positive cells (helper T cells and macrophages) to MRC OX8-positive cells (cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells) was less in untreated (mean 0.6, range 0.5–0.6) than in CsA-treated (1.3,0.8–1.6) or enhanced (2.1, 1.8–2.4) grafts. Using a 6-hr chromium-release assay, cells from untreated, CsA-treated, and enhanced grafts showed similar levels of nonspecific cytotoxicity (against Y3 myeloma cells), but only untreated grafts showed alloantigen-specific target cell lysis (against BN concanavalin A blasts). These results suggest that specific cytotoxic T cells rather than nonspecific responses play an essential role in allograft rejection in the rat.

This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit: