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Donor dendritic cell persistence in organ allograft recipients in the absence of immunosuppression
Author(s) -
O'Connell Peta J.,
Burlingham William J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of leukocyte biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.819
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1938-3673
pISSN - 0741-5400
DOI - 10.1002/jlb.66.2.301
Subject(s) - immunosuppression , immunology , organ transplantation , immune system , immune tolerance , biology , dendritic cell , myeloid , heart transplantation , whole blood , transplantation , medicine
Donor‐derived leukocytes are known to persist in the peripheral blood of organ allograft recipients after withdrawal of all immunosuppressive drug therapy and can exert a donor‐specific veto effect. Antigen‐presenting cells (APC), in particular dendritic cells (DC), have been proposed as a candidate for this veto leukocyte. Myeloid DC were derived from the peripheral blood of two non‐compliant organ transplant recipients: D. S., a heart transplant recipient, and J. M., a liver transplant recipient. Donor‐specific signal was enriched in the cultured DC fraction relative to whole blood for both patients. The clinical outcome in each patient was different: D. S. lost his heart allograft due to biopsy‐proven acute and chronic rejection 2.5 years after discontinuing anti‐rejection medication; J. M. continues to maintain adequate liver function. The results have important implications for the planned withdrawal of immunosuppression in tolerance protocols as DC may play a role either in the maintenance of tolerance or immune activation. J. Leukoc. Biol. 66: 301–305; 1999.