Characterization of maturation and function of natural killer cells in xenogeneic (rat-->mouse) bone marrow chimeras. Evidence that rat NK cells are present and functional in a xenogeneic environment

Baboon bone-marrow xenotransplant in a patient with advanced HIV disease: case report and 8-year follow-up

BACKGROUND

Xenotransplantation offers a solution to the shortage of organ donors and may offer resistance to human-specific pathogens. Baboons are resistant to productive infection with HIV-1. A baboon bone-marrow transplant (BMT) was performed in an attempt to reconstitute the immune system of a patient with advanced AIDS. The aims of this pilot study were to evaluate the safety of the procedure and develop an approach to prevent and monitor for xenozoonoses.

METHODS

A source animal was selected on the basis of infectious disease surveillance protocols. Baboon bone marrow, engineered to remove graft-versus-host-disease-producing mature lineages, but to retain hematopoietic stem cells and facilitating cells, was infused into the patient after nonmyeloablative conditioning. Serial clinical, virologic, immunologic, and hematologic evaluations were performed.

RESULTS

A 38-year-old male with advanced AIDS, who had failed to respond to triple-drug antiretroviral therapy, underwent baboon BMT in 1995. The patient tolerated the procedure without complication. Baboon cells were detected in the peripheral blood on days 5 and 13 after transplantation. Baboon endogenous virus (BaEV) was detected on day 5 but not subsequently. Antibody to BaEV was not detected. HIV-1 viral load declined 1.5 log and remained low until 11 months. The patient improved clinically, and no adverse events occurred. The patient is alive 8 years after the procedure.

CONCLUSIONS

Baboon BMT to treat AIDS was attempted using nonmyeloablative conditioning and resulted in transient microchimerism and clinical and virologic improvements. Long-term improvement was not achieved; however, no adverse events occurred, and no evidence of transmission of xenogeneic infections was found.

Simple determination of donor/host origin and donor leukocyte subsets in rat-mouse chimeras

In lethally irradiated mice, mixed lymphohaemopoietic chimerism can be established after their reconstitution with adult or embryonic rat haemopoietic stem cells. In this report we describe a simple fluorescent staining protocol for the determination of origin and type of various leukocyte cell subpopulations (rat or mouse, and rat T, B and myeloid cells, respectively) using whole blood samples from such animals. These data were comparable to those obtained in peripheral lymphoid tissues. Exploiting the slightly heterogeneous reactivity of the mouse monoclonal anti-rat CD45 antibody (MRC OX-1) revealed by the application of a PE-labelled monoclonal anti-mouse IgG1 secondary reagent together with a FITC-labelled rat anti-mouse CD45 mAb (IBL-5/25), we could determine the donor-derived T, B and myeloid cells from one sample in a two-step procedure. Further advantages to this easy staining procedure are that PBLs as test cells are readily available and the typing can be repeated, thus offering the opportunity for continuous monitoring of the degree of chimerism.