Presence of Donor Leukocytes and Donor MHC-Cross-Dressed Recipient Cells and Its Relationship to Direct T Cell Alloresponses After Allotransplantation

J. Marino,¹ P. Crosby Bertorini,¹ M. Uehara,² J. Paster,¹ S. Mordecai,³ W.-H. Liu,¹ L. Liu,¹ R. Abdi,² G. Tocco,¹ J. Kim,¹ J. Markmann,¹ G. Benichou.¹

¹Surgery Department, Center for Transplantation Sciences, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
²Department of Medicine, Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
³Department of Pathology, Flow and Imaging Cytometry Core, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.

Meeting: 2015 American Transplant Congress

Abstract number: C7

Keywords: Allorecognition, Antigen presentation, Mice, T cell activation

Session Information

Session Name: Poster Session C: Antigen Presenting Cells in Alloimmune Responses/B Cells and Antibody in Alloimmune Responses

Session Type: Poster Session

Date: Monday, May 4, 2015

Session Time: 5:30pm-6:30pm

Presentation Time: 5:30pm-6:30pm

Location: Exhibit Hall E

We have studied the kinetics of donor cell trafficking from the graft to recipient's lymphoid organs and its correlation to the direct T cell alloresponse in BALB/c mice transplanted with fully allogeneic B6 skin, heart or pancreatic islets. The recipients' spleen, ipsilateral and contralateral lymph nodes were analyzed via imaging flow cytometry (Amnis ImageStream X Mark II) at different time points during the first week after transplantation. No leukocytes of donor origin were found in the recipient's organs after skin transplantation. Alternatively, after islet or cardiac transplantation, some donor leukocytes were detected but only at frequencies not superior to 0.02% of analyzed cells. In contrast, with all transplants, high frequencies (0.5-4%) of recipient cells displaying donor MHC class I and II molecules were observed as early as day 1 post-transplantation and increasing in number towards day 7. Kinetics of T cell alloresponse, measured by ELISPOT, showed an expansion of pro-inflammatory gIFN-producing T cells activated via direct allorecognition as early as 48 hours after transplantation. Taken together, these results suggest that presentation of allogeneic MHC molecules on recipient cross-dressed cells rather than donor passenger leukocytes is the driving force behind direct T cell alloreactivity post-transplantation.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Marino J, Bertorini PCrosby, Uehara M, Paster J, Mordecai S, Liu W-H, Liu L, Abdi R, Tocco G, Kim J, Markmann J, Benichou G. Presence of Donor Leukocytes and Donor MHC-Cross-Dressed Recipient Cells and Its Relationship to Direct T Cell Alloresponses After Allotransplantation [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2015; 15 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/presence-of-donor-leukocytes-and-donor-mhc-cross-dressed-recipient-cells-and-its-relationship-to-direct-t-cell-alloresponses-after-allotransplantation/. Accessed May 6, 2025.

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