Objective: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of melatonin on heart allograft survival and explore the underlying mechanism. Methods and Results: Balb/c and C57BL/6 mice was used to establish the heart allograft rejection model. Melatonin was intraperitoneally given at a daily dose of 200 mg/kg. Compared to the control, melatonin prolonged graft survival from 7 ± 1.5 days to 12.3 ± 2.3 days. Melatonin increased the percentage of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the draining lymph nodes from 11.5 ±1.3% to 24.9 ± 1.3% (p<0.01) at day 5 after transplantation. When incubating with naïve CD4⁺ T cells in the presence of plate-bound anti-CD3, soluble anti-CD28 (2ug/ml), TGF-β (5ng/ml) and IL-2(200IU/ml), melatonin (10 ug/ml) significantly increased the proportion of Foxp3+ Tregs at day 3 (53.5 ± 3.9% vs 35.6 ± 1.8%, p<0.01). Conclusion: Melatonin (200 mg/kg) can prolong heart allograft survival in mice. The induction of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells may contribute to its protective effect.

CITATION INFORMATION: Liu L., Su Q., Xiong Y., Bi Z., Huang H., Peng Y., Wang C. Melatonin Prolongs Heart Allograft Survival by Induction of Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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