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Waldmann H. Regulatory T cells and transplantation tolerance: Emerging from the darkness? Eur J Immunol 2021; 51:1580-1591. [PMID: 33961297 DOI: 10.1002/eji.202048795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The field of tissue transplantation has revolutionized the treatment of patients with failing organs. Its success, thus far, has depended on combinations of immunosuppressive drugs that damp host immunity, while also imposing numerous unwanted side-effects. There is a longstanding recognition that better treatment outcomes, will come from replacing these drugs, fully or in part, by taking advantage of tractable physiological mechanisms of self-tolerance. The past 50 years have seen many advances in the field of self-tolerance, but perhaps, the most tractable of these has been the more recent discovery of a subset T-cells (Treg) whose role is to regulate or damp immunity. This article is intended to first provide the reader with some historical background to explain why we have been slow to identify these cells, despite numerous clues to their existence, and also to indicate how little we know about how they achieve their regulatory function in averting transplant rejection. However, as is often the case in immunology, the therapeutic needs often dictate that our advances move to translation even before detailed explanations of the science are available. The final part of the article will briefly summarize how Treg are being harnessed as agents to interface with or perhaps, replace current drug combinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Herman Waldmann
- Sir William Dunn School, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX13RE, UK
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Gallon L, Mathew JM, Bontha SV, Dumur CI, Dalal P, Nadimpalli L, Maluf DG, Shetty AA, Ildstad ST, Leventhal JR, Mas VR. Intragraft Molecular Pathways Associated with Tolerance Induction in Renal Transplantation. J Am Soc Nephrol 2017; 29:423-433. [PMID: 29191961 DOI: 10.1681/asn.2017030348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2017] [Accepted: 09/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The modern immunosuppression regimen has greatly improved short-term allograft outcomes but not long-term allograft survival. Complications associated with immunosuppression, specifically nephrotoxicity and infection risk, significantly affect graft and patient survival. Inducing and understanding pathways underlying clinical tolerance after transplantation are, therefore, necessary. We previously showed full donor chimerism and immunosuppression withdrawal in highly mismatched allograft recipients using a bioengineered stem cell product (FCRx). Here, we evaluated the gene expression and microRNA expression profiles in renal biopsy samples from tolerance-induced FCRx recipients, paired donor organs before implant, and subjects under standard immunosuppression (SIS) without rejection and with acute rejection. Unlike allograft samples showing acute rejection, samples from FCRx recipients did not show upregulation of T cell- and B cell-mediated rejection pathways. Gene expression pathways differed slightly between FCRx samples and the paired preimplantation donor organ samples, but most of the functional gene networks overlapped. Notably, compared with SIS samples, FCRx samples showed upregulation of genes involved in pathways, like B cell receptor signaling. Additionally, prediction analysis showed inhibition of proinflammatory regulators and activation of anti-inflammatory pathways in FCRx samples. Furthermore, integrative analyses (microRNA and gene expression profiling from the same biopsy sample) identified the induction of regulators with demonstrated roles in the downregulation of inflammatory pathways and maintenance of tissue homeostasis in tolerance-induced FCRx samples compared with SIS samples. This pilot study highlights the utility of molecular intragraft evaluation of pathways related to FCRx-induced tolerance and the use of integrative analyses for identifying upstream regulators of the affected downstream molecular pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Gallon
- Departments of Medicine-Nephrology, .,Comprehensive Transplant Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
| | - James M Mathew
- Comprehensive Transplant Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.,Surgery.,Microbiology-Immunology and
| | - Sai Vineela Bontha
- Translational Genomics Transplant Laboratory, Department of Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
| | - Catherine I Dumur
- Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia; and
| | - Pranav Dalal
- Comprehensive Transplant Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.,Surgery
| | - Lakshmi Nadimpalli
- Comprehensive Transplant Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.,Surgery
| | - Daniel G Maluf
- Translational Genomics Transplant Laboratory, Department of Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
| | - Aneesha A Shetty
- Departments of Medicine-Nephrology.,Comprehensive Transplant Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Suzanne T Ildstad
- Departments of Surgery.,Physiology, and.,Immunology, Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky
| | - Joseph R Leventhal
- Comprehensive Transplant Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.,Surgery
| | - Valeria R Mas
- Translational Genomics Transplant Laboratory, Department of Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
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Scalea JR, Tomita Y, Lindholm CR, Burlingham W. Transplantation Tolerance Induction: Cell Therapies and Their Mechanisms. Front Immunol 2016; 7:87. [PMID: 27014267 PMCID: PMC4779899 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2016.00087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2015] [Accepted: 02/22/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell-based therapies have been studied extensively in the context of transplantation tolerance induction. The most successful protocols have relied on transfusion of bone marrow prior to the transplantation of a renal allograft. However, it is not clear that stem cells found in bone marrow are required in order to render a transplant candidate immunologically tolerant. Accordingly, mesenchymal stem cells, regulatory myeloid cells, T regulatory cells, and other cell types are being tested as possible routes to tolerance induction, in the absence of donor-derived stem cells. Early data with each of these cell types have been encouraging. However, the induction regimen capable of achieving consistent tolerance, while avoiding unwanted sided effects, and which is scalable to the human patient, has yet to be identified. Here, we present the status of investigations of various tolerogenic cell types and the mechanistic rationale for their use in tolerance induction protocols.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph R Scalea
- Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation, University of Wiconsin , Madison, WI , USA
| | - Yusuke Tomita
- Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation, University of Wiconsin , Madison, WI , USA
| | | | - William Burlingham
- Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation, University of Wiconsin , Madison, WI , USA
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