Are we ready for the use of foxp3(+) regulatory T cells for immunodiagnosis and immunotherapy in kidney transplantation? J Transplant. 2012;2012:397952. [PMID: 22690325 PMCID: PMC3368592 DOI: 10.1155/2012/397952]

The Presence of a Marked Imbalance Between Regulatory T Cells and Effector T Cells Reveals That Tolerance Mechanisms Could Be Compromised in Heart Transplant Children

Regulatory T cells (Treg) are crucial for the induction and maintenance of graft tolerance. In pediatric heart transplant procedures, the thymus is routinely excised, removing the primary source of T-cell replenishment. Consequently, thymectomy joined to the effects of immunosuppression on the T-cell compartment may have a detrimental impact on Treg values, compromising the intrinsic tolerance mechanisms and the protective role of Treg preventing graft rejection in heart transplant children.

Histopathological analysis of infiltrating T cell subsets in acute T cell-mediated rejection in the kidney transplant

AIM

To compare the differential immune T cell subset composition in patients with acute T cell-mediated rejection in the kidney transplant with subset composition in the absence of rejection, and to explore the association of their respective immune profiles with kidney transplant outcomes.

METHODS

A pilot cross-sectional histopathological analysis of the immune infiltrate was performed using immunohistochemistry in a cohort of 14 patients with acute T cell-mediated rejection in the kidney transplant and 7 kidney transplant patients with no rejection subjected to biopsy to investigate acute kidney transplant dysfunction. All patients were recruited consecutively from 2012 to 2014 at the Singapore General Hospital. Association of the immune infiltrates with kidney transplant outcomes at up to 54 mo of follow up was also explored prospectively.

RESULTS

In comparison to the absence of rejection, acute T cell-mediated rejection in the kidney transplant was characterised by numerical dominance of cytotoxic T lymphocytes over Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells, but did not reach statistical significance owing to the small sample size in our pilot study. There was no obvious difference in absolute numbers of infiltrating cytotoxic T lymphocytes, Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells and Th17 cells between the two patient groups when quantified separately. Our exploratory analysis on associations of T cell subset quantifications with kidney transplant outcomes revealed that the degree of Th17 cell infiltration was significantly associated with shorter time to doubling of creatinine and shorter time to transplant loss.

CONCLUSION

Although this was a small pilot study, results support our suspicion that in kidney transplant patients the immune balance in acute T cell-mediated rejection is tilted towards the pro-rejection forces and prompt larger and more sophisticated studies.

The NOX2-mediated ROS producing capacity of recipient cells is associated with reduced T cell infiltrate in an experimental model of chronic renal allograft inflammation

We previously showed that anti-inflammatory Mph (Mph2) can both in vitro and in vivo induce regulatory T cells (Tregs) in a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent fashion. As influx of Mph is an important characteristic of chronic inflammatory responses, we investigated the impact of NOX2-mediated ROS production by recipient cells in an experimental model of chronic allograft inflammation. We used a kidney transplantation (Tx) model with Lewis (Lew) rats as donor and congenic DA.Ncf1(DA/DA) (low ROS) and DA.Ncf1(E3/E3) (normal ROS) rats as recipients. At day 7 the contralateral kidney was removed, and the animals were sacrificed four weeks after Tx. Renal function and injury were monitored in serum and urine and the composition of the infiltrate was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Four weeks after Tx, large leukocyte clusters were observed in the allograft, in which signs of ROS production could be demonstrated. These clusters showed no difference regarding composition of myeloid cells or the number of FoxP3 positive cells. However, T cell infiltrate was significantly reduced in the DA.Ncf1(E3/E3) recipients having normal ROS production. Therefore, this study suggests a regulatory effect of ROS on T cell infiltration, but no effect on other inflammatory cells in the allograft.