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CD4+ T Cells Prevent Skin Autoimmunity During Chronic Autologous Graft‐Versus‐Host‐Disease
Author(s) -
Hequet Olivier,
Vocanson Marc,
SaintMézard Pierre,
Kaiserlian Dominique,
Nicolas Jean François,
Bérard Frédéric
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00439.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cd8 , graft versus host disease , immunology , autoimmunity , t cell , transplantation , autoimmune disease , immune system , antibody
CD4 regulatory cells have been postulated to prevent autologous graft‐vs.‐host disease (GVHD). In order to test this hypothesis, we used BALB/c mice, a strain known to be resistant to autologous GVHD, which had received autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and cyclosporine A (CsA). As expected, ASCT/CsA‐treated BALB/c mice did not develop any sign of acute or chronic GVHD. However, depletion of CD4 T cells induced a skin disease with clinical and histological features of alopecia areata (AA), a CD8 T‐cell‐mediated human autoimmune skin disease. The hair loss in mice developing AA was associated with the infiltration of the skin by activated CD8 T cells. Analysis of the T‐cell recovery in ASCT‐ and ASCT/CsA‐treated mice showed that CsA induced an increase in the number of CD4+ 25+ T cells, suggesting that the lack of GVHD in ASCT/CsA treated‐mice could be related to the expansion of this CD4 T‐cell subset. Collectively these data show that CD4 T cells comprise regulatory cells controlling the onset of autologous GVHD and suggest that the naturally occurring CD4+ 25+ subset may be responsible for this effect.