UVB-irradiation of human bone marrow: potential for donor specific tolerance

State of the Art: Role of the Dendritic Cell in Induction of Allograft Tolerance

Despite decades of research, the induction and maintenance of long-term allograft tolerance without immunosuppression remains an elusive goal in the field of solid organ and cell transplantation. Immunosuppressive medications frequently prevent or minimize acute cellular rejection but have failed to halt antidonor antibody production and chronic organ rejection. Past efforts aimed at promoting lasting allograft tolerance have focused primarily on peripheral T-cell depletion, augmentation of regulatory T cells, or induction via simultaneous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and facilitation of donor chimerism. So far, none of these methods have led to consistently safe, feasible and long lasting donor organ acceptance. Over the course of the past 4 decades, the study of a unique population of antigen-presenting cells known as dendritic cells has shown promise for breaking new ground in achieving indefinite allograft survival without immunosuppression and its associated adverse effects. In this review, we discuss the discovery and early investigations of dendritic cells and chronicle some of the key studies demonstrating their role in transplantation, particularly in indirect allorecognition, the immunologic pathway thought to drive chronic rejection and perhaps tolerance induction.

Differential sensitivity of T lymphocytes and hematopoietic precursor cells to photochemotherapy with 8-methoxypsoralen and ultraviolet A light

The combination of 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and long wave ultraviolet radiation (UV-A) has immunomodulatory effects and might abolish both graft-vs-host and host-vs-graft reactions after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In the present study, we have confirmed the sensitivity of T lymphocytes to 8-MOP treatment plus UV-A exposure as evidenced by the abrogation of the alloreactivity in mixed lymphocyte cultures as well as the inhibition of the response to phytohemagglutinin A. However, the clonogenic capacity of the bone marrow hematopoietic progenitors was inhibited with UV-A doses lower than the doses needed to inhibit T-lymphocytes alloreactivity. Moreover, long-term bone marrow cultures showed that 8-MOP plus UV-A treatment had detrimental effects on the more immature bone marrow stem cells. These data were confirmed when murine bone marrow graft was treated with 8-MOP, exposed to UV-A, then transplanted into semiallogeneic recipient mice. The treated cells could not maintain their clonogenic capacity in vivo resulting in death of all animals. Taken together, these data show that ex vivo 8-MOP plus UV-A treatment of the marrow graft cannot be used to prevent post-bone marrow transplantation alloreactivity.