Smith, Xin G., Bolton, Eleanor M., Ruchatz, Holger, Wei, Xiao-Qing ![]() |
Abstract
IL-15 is a T cell growth factor that shares many functional similarities with IL-2 and has recently been shown to be present in tissue and organ allografts, leading to speculation that IL-15 may contribute to graft rejection. Here, we report on the in vivo use of an IL-15 antagonist, a soluble fragment of the murine IL-15R a-chain, to investigate the contribution of IL-15 to the rejection of fully vascularized cardiac allografts in a mouse experimental model. Administration of soluble fragment of the murine IL-15R a-chain (sIL-15Ra) to CBA/Ca (H-2k) recipients for 10 days completely prevented rejection of minor histocompatibility complexmismatched B10.BR (H-2k) heart grafts (median survival time (MST) of >100 days vs MST of 10 days for control recipients) and led to a state of donor-specific immunologic tolerance. Treatment of CBA/Ca recipients with sIL-15Ra alone had only a modest effect on the survival of fully MHC-mismatched BALB/c (H-2d) heart grafts. However, administration of sIL-15Ra together with a single dose of a nondepleting anti-CD4 mAb (YTS 177.9) delayed mononuclear cell infiltration of the grafts and markedly prolonged graft survival (MST of 60 days vs MST of 20 days for treatment with anti-CD4 alone). Prolonged graft survival was accompanied in vitro by reduced proliferation and IFN-g production by spleen cells, whereas CTL and alloantibody levels were similar to those in animals given anti-CD4 mAb alone. These findings demonstrate that IL-15 plays an important role in the rejection of a vascularized organ allograft and that antagonists to IL-15 may be of therapeutic value in preventing allograft rejection.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Date Type: | Publication |
Status: | Published |
Schools: | Dentistry |
Subjects: | Q Science > QR Microbiology > QR180 Immunology |
Publisher: | American Association of Immunologists |
ISSN: | 0022-1767 |
Last Modified: | 21 Oct 2022 09:14 |
URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/35680 |
Citation Data
Cited 77 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data
Actions (repository staff only)
![]() |
Edit Item |