Phenotypic and functional characteristics of intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes during acute rejection of small intestinal allografts

Infiltration of a transplanted organ by host lymphoid cells is the hallmark of acute rejection. However, after intestinal transplantation, physiological lymphocyte migration may lead to host cell infiltration of the graft even in the absence of rejection. It is unclear whether this lymphocyte migrat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transplant international 1998-03, Vol.11 (2), p.102-109
Main Authors: Cicalese, Luca, Nüssler, Natascha C., Hoffman, Rosemary A., Neuhaus, Peter, Schraut, Wolfgang H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acute rejection
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Flow Cytometry
Graft Rejection - pathology
Graft Rejection - prevention & control
Immunosuppressive Agents - therapeutic use
Intestinal Mucosa - pathology
Intestinal transplantation
Intestine, Small - pathology
Intestine, Small - transplantation
intraepithelial lymphocytes
Key words
Lymphocytes - pathology
Male
Medical sciences
Phenotype
Rats
Rats, Inbred Lew
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Stomach, duodenum, intestine, rectum, anus
Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases
Surgery of the digestive system
Tacrolimus - therapeutic use
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Summary:Infiltration of a transplanted organ by host lymphoid cells is the hallmark of acute rejection. However, after intestinal transplantation, physiological lymphocyte migration may lead to host cell infiltration of the graft even in the absence of rejection. It is unclear whether this lymphocyte migration also involves the intraepithelial compartment of the graft or whether infiltration there is indicative of acute rejection. We demonstrate here that host cell infiltration of the intestinal mucosa occurs both during acute rejection of a small bowel allograft and, to a lesser extent, when rejection is prevented by immunosuppression with FK506. The infiltrating host cells consisted of CD3+ T cells with a predominant CD4‐ CD8+ phenotype resembling intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs). Functional studies showed that the nonspecific cytolytic activity of IELs was not affected by acute rejection or by immunosuppression with FK506. These findings indicate that host cell infiltration of the intestinal mucosa does not connote an ongoing acute rejection. Furthermore, the decreased mucosal barrier function during acute rejection of intestinal allgrafts is probably not due to impaired cytolytic activity of IELs.
ISSN:0934-0874
1432-2277
DOI:10.1111/j.1432-2277.1998.tb00784.x