Role of classical (RT1.A) and nonclassical (RT1.C) MHC class I regions in natural killer cell-mediated bone marrow allograft rejection in rats

The importance of MHC class II in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and chimerism-based solid organ tolerance in a rat model

Mixed hematopoietic chimerism enables donor-specific tolerance for solid organ grafts. This study evaluated the influence of different serological major histocompatibility complex disparities on chimerism development, graft-versus-host disease incidence and subsequently on solid organ tolerance in a rat model. For bone marrow transplantation conditioning total body irradiation was titrated using 10, 8 or 6 Gray. Bone marrow transplantation was performed across following major histocompatibility complex mismatched barriers: complete disparity, MHC class II, MHC class I or non-MHC mismatch. Recipients were clinically monitored for graft-versus-host disease and analyzed for chimerism using flow cytometry. After a reconstitution of 100 days, composition of peripheral leukocytes was determined. Mixed chimeras were challenged with heart grafts from allogeneic donor strains to define the impact of donor MHC class disparities on solid organ tolerance on the basis of stable chimerism. After myeloablation with 10 Gray of total body irradiation, chimerism after bone marrow transplantation was induced independent of MHC disparity. MHC class II disparity increased the incidence of graft-versus-host disease and reduced induction of stable chimerism upon myelosuppressive total body irradiation with 8 and 6 Gray, respectively. Stable mixed chimeras showed tolerance towards heart grafts from donors with MHC matched to either bone marrow donors or recipients. Isolated matching of MHC class II with bone marrow donors likewise led to stable tolerance as opposed to matching of MHC class I. In summary, MHC class II disparity was critically associated with the onset of graft-versus host disease and was identified as obstacle for successful development of chimerism after bone marrow transplantation and subsequent donor-specific solid organ tolerance.

Graft-Versus-Host Disease Following Liver Transplantation: Development of a High-Incidence Rat Model and a Selective Prevention Method

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) following liver transplantation (LT) is a rare but serious complication with no presently available animal model and no preventive measures. To develop a rat model of GvHD after LT (LT-GvHD), we preconditioned hosts with sublethal irradiation plus reduction of natural killer (NK) cells with anti-CD8α mAb treatment, which invariably resulted in acute LT-GvHD. Compared with those in the peripheral counterpart, graft CD4⁺ CD25^- passenger T cells showed lower alloreactivities in mixed leukocyte culture. Immunohistology revealed that donor CD4⁺ T cells migrated and formed clusters with host dendritic cells in secondary lymphoid organs, with early expansion and subsequent accumulation in target organs. For selectively preventing GvHD, donor livers were perfused ex vivo with organ preservation media containing anti-TCRαβ mAb. T cell-depleted livers almost completely suppressed clinical GvHD such that host rats survived for >100 days. Our results showed that passenger T cells could develop typical LT-GvHD if resistant cells such as host radiosensitive cells and host radioresistant NK cells were suppressed. Selective ex vivo T cell depletion prevented LT-GvHD without affecting host immunity or graft function. This method might be applicable to clinical LT in prediagnosed high-risk donor-recipient combinations and for analyzing immunoregulatory mechanisms of the liver.

Rat acute GvHD is Th1 driven and characterized by predominant donor CD4+ T-cell infiltration of skin and gut

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) remains a significant hurdle to successful treatment of many hematological disorders. The disease is caused by infiltration of alloactivated donor T cells primarily into the gastrointestinal tract and skin. Although cytotoxic T cells mediate direct cellular damage, T helper (Th) cells differentially secrete immunoregulatory cytokines. aGvHD is thought to be initiated primarily by Th1 cells but a consensus is still lacking regarding the role of Th2 and Th17 cells. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of distinct T-cell subsets to aGvHD in the rat. aGvHD was induced by transplanting irradiated rats with T-cell-depleted major histocompatibility complex-mismatched bone marrow, followed 2 weeks later by donor lymphocyte infusion. Near complete donor T-cell chimerism was achieved in the blood and lymphatic tissues, in contrast to mixed chimerism in the skin and gut. Skin and gut donor T cells were predominantly CD4⁺, in contrast to T cells in the blood and lymphatic tissues. Genes associated with Th1 cells were upregulated in gut, liver, lung, and skin tissues affected by aGvHD. Increased serum levels of CXCL10 and IL-18 preceded symptoms of aGvHD, accompanied by increased responsiveness to CXCL10 by blood CD4⁺ T cells. No changes in the expression of Th2- or Th17-associated genes were observed, indicating that aGvHD in this rat model is mainly Th1 driven. The rat model of aGvHD could be instrumental for further investigations of donor T-cell subsets in the skin and gut and for exploring therapeutic options to ameliorate symptoms of aGvHD.

The Role of Animal Models in the Study of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and GvHD: A Historical Overview

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the only therapeutic option for many hematological malignancies, but its applicability is limited by life-threatening complications, such as graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). The last decades have seen great advances in the understanding of BMT and its related complications; in particular GvHD. Animal models are beneficial to study complex diseases, as they allow dissecting the contribution of single components in the development of the disease. Most of the current knowledge on the therapeutic mechanisms of BMT derives from studies in animal models. Parallel to BMT, the understanding of the pathophysiology of GvHD, as well as the development of new treatment regimens, has also been supported by studies in animal models. Pre-clinical experimentation is the basis for deep understanding and successful improvements of clinical applications. In this review, we retrace the history of BMT and GvHD by describing how the studies in animal models have paved the way to the many advances in the field. We also describe how animal models contributed to the understanding of GvHD pathophysiology and how they are fundamental for the discovery of new treatments.

The early days of NK cells: an example of how a phenomenon led to detection of a novel immune receptor system - lessons from a rat model

In this review, I summarize some of the early research on NK cell biology and function that led to the discovery of a totally new receptor system for polymorphic MHC class I molecules. That NK cells both could recognize and kill tumor cells but also normal hematopoietic cells through expression of MHC class I molecules found a unifying explanation in the “missing self” hypothesis. This initiated a whole new area of leukocyte receptor research. The common underlying mechanism was that NK cells expressed receptors that were inhibited by recognition of unmodified “self” MHC-I molecules. This could explain both the killing of tumor cells with poor expression of MHC-I molecules and hybrid resistance, i.e., that F1 hybrid mice sometimes could reject parental bone marrow cells. However, a contrasting phenomenon termed allogeneic lymphocyte cytotoxicity in rats gave strong evidence that some of these receptors were activated rather than inhibited by recognition of polymorphic MHC-I. This was soon followed by molecular identification of both inhibitory and stimulatory Ly49 receptors in mice and rats and killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors in humans that could be either inhibited or activated when recognizing their cognate MHC-I ligand. Since most of these receptors now have been molecularly characterized, their ligands and the intracellular pathways leading to activation or inhibition identified, we still lack a more complete understanding of how the repertoire of activating and inhibitory receptors is formed and how interactions between these receptors for MHC-I molecules on a single NK cell are integrated to generate a productive immune response. Although several NK receptor systems have been characterized that recognize MHC-I or MHC-like molecules, I here concentrate on the repertoires of NK receptors encoded by the natural killer cell gene complex and designed to recognize polymorphic MHC-I molecules in rodents, i.e., Ly49 (KLRA) receptors.

Tumor Vaccination after Allogeneic Bone Marrow Cell Reconstitution of the Nonmyeloablatively Conditioned Tumor-Bearing Murine Host

Allogeneic bone marrow cell reconstitution of the nonmyeloablatively conditioned host is supposed to provide an optimized platform for tumor vaccination. We recently showed that an allogeneic T cell-depleted graft was well accepted if the tumor-bearing host was NK depleted. Based on this finding, a vaccination protocol in tumor-bearing, nonmyeloablatively conditioned, allogeneically reconstituted mice was elaborated. Allogeneically reconstituted mice, bearing a renal cell carcinoma, received tumor-primed donor lymph node cells (LNC), which had or had not matured in the allogeneic host. Primed LNC were supported by tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells, which were donor or host derived. Optimal responses against the tumor were observed with host-tolerant, tumor-primed LNC in combination with host-derived dendritic cells. High frequencies of tumor-specific proliferating and CTLs were recorded; the survival time of tumor-bearing mice was significantly prolonged, and in >50% of mice the tumor was completely rejected. Notably, severe graft-vs-host disease was observed in reconstituted mice that received tumor-primed LNC, which had not matured in the allogeneic host. However, graft-vs-host was not aggravated after vaccination with tumor-primed, host-tolerant LNC. Thus, the LNC were tolerant toward the host, but not toward the tumor. The finding convincingly demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of tumor vaccination after allogeneic reconstitution of the nonmyeloablatively conditioned host.

Long-term donor chimerism after MHC (RT1) mismatched bone marrow transplantation in the rat: the role of host alloreactive NK cells

We have investigated the role of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) (RT1) disparities in the engraftment of bone marrow (BM) cells after whole body irradiation of rats. Mononuclear BM cells from PVG.RT7.2 (RT1c) rats were injected i.v. into sublethally (10Gy) whole body irradiated PVG (RT1c) rats and RT1 congenic and recombinant PVG rats. Repopulation of the BM, spleen, and blood with donor cells was assessed by FACS analysis of cells labelled with the fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labelled HIS41 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) against the RT7.2 marker. In RT1 matched (PVG.RT7.2 --> PVG) and RT1-mismatched combinations (PVG.RT7.2 --> PVG.1AV1), where radioresistant host natural killer (NK) cells could not recognize the BM inoculum as foreign, a donor chimerism close to 100% was observed after 6-8 weeks. However, in rat strain combinations where host NK cells could recognize an RT1 mismatch, almost no donor cells survived, and the rats were repopulated with leukocytes of host origin. In intra-MHC recombinant rat strains the element determining rejection or acceptance of the allograft mapped to the RT1-B/D-C/E/M region in PVG.R8 and PVG.R23 rats, in accordance with the patterns of NK alloreactivity in these strain combinations. NK cells may therefore be a primary obstacle to successful allogeneic BM engraftment in this model.

Peptide specificity of RT1-A1(c), an inhibitory rat major histocompatibility complex class I natural killer cell ligand

The rat major histocompatibility complex class Ia allelomorph RT1-A1(c) is a potent ligand for the recently identified inhibitory rLy-49 receptor, STOK-2. With the ultimate objective of studying the interactions of these molecules using structural and functional methods, we undertook a detailed study of its peptide specificity. The study revealed that designing an "ideal peptide" by choosing the most abundant residues in the "binding motif" obtained by pool sequencing does not necessarily yield an optimal binding peptide. For RT1-A1(c), as many as four positions, P2, P4, P5, and P9, were detected as putative anchors. Since this molecule displays a preference for highly hydrophobic peptides, we tested binding of peptides derived from the known leader peptide sequences of other rat histocompatibility complex class I molecules. One such peptide, found to bind well, requiring 1.6 microm peptide to achieve 50% stabilization, was searched for in vivo. Natural RT1-A1(c) binding peptides were purified from rat splenocytes and characterized by mass spectrometry using a combined matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time-of-flight and quadrupole time-of-flight approach. Results showed that the signal sequence-derived peptide was not detectable in the purified peptide pool, which was composed of a complex spectrum of peptides. Seven of these self-peptides were successfully sequenced.

The role of natural killer cell mediated caspases activation in a graft-versus-host disease model of semiallogeneic small bowel transplantation

In the clinical setting of solid organ transplantation the event of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is rare and not easily predictable. Even intestinal and multivisceral transplants harbour a huge amount of immunocompetent cells and they do not exert a significantly higher risk to trigger serious GvH reactions. A series of our own experimental studies has been conducted to delineate the role of the host's innate immune system in the context of GvHD following parental to F1 hybrid semiallogeneic small bowel transplantation (SBTx). These results clearly demonstrated the immunological significance of the recipient's status of natural killer (NK) cell activity to counteract donor-derived lymphocytes and related cytotoxicity. NK cells and macrophages are both endowed with Ca2+-dependent receptors of the C-type lectin family which interact with a diversity of high-affinity oligosaccharide ligands expressed on potential target cells. One of these proteins of the C-type lectin family, termed NKR-P1, has been cloned and sequenced. Activation of NKR-P1 stimulates activation-induced cell death (AICD) of bound target cells. As intracellular mediators of apoptotic cell death a new family of cysteine proteases, the caspases, have been defined. These proteases appear to be involved in the initiation of apoptosis in response to a number of stimuli. This study was conducted to investigate the impact on the activity level of host NK cells and on target cell lysis of donor-derived lymphocytes after heterotopic semiallogeneic (parental [DA;RT1.aaav1] to F1 [DA x LEW;RT1.(1)]) small bowel transplantation using a rat model. The host's NK activity was either specifically activated (by use of polyinosinic:polycytodilic acid [poly-I:C]) or suppressed (by depletion of host NK cells after intraperitoneal administration of the NKR-P1 monoclonal antibody 3.2.3). The impact of NK-activity on the incidence of GvHD and the recipients' survival was correlated with the frequency of apoptotic cell death and related expression of caspases 1 (ICE) and 3 (CPP-32) from donor and recipient small bowel tissues. Our results confirm that depletion of NK cells in F1 host rats prior to parental small bowel transplantation significantly decreased the mean survival to 11.4 days versus 16.2 days of nondepleted F1 rats (p < 0.01). Conversely, activation of host NK activity with poly-I:C abrogated GvHD in all 12 recipient rats and led to long-term survival in seven of 12 animals. Long-term survival was associated with a substantially higher frequency of apoptotic cell death in donor and recipient small bowel and mesenteric lymph nodes. On day 10 after transplantation, Northern blot analysis of these tissues revealed profound upregulation of mRNA-specific gene expression for caspase 1 and 3 as potential mediators of programmed cell death of activated lymphocytes. Our findings emphasize the importance of NK cell associated innate immunity in the context of GvHD after semiallogeneic small bowel transplantation. Killing of alloreactive donor-derived lymphocytes was mediated by the NKR-P1 protein on NK cells and could be suppressed after pretreatment of F1 hosts with anti-NKR-P1 mAb 3.2.3. Moreover, NK cell-mediated apoptosis induced upregulation of caspases 1 and 3, thus elucidating the involvement of this protein in the context of caspase-mediated target cell killing.