B cell-mediated antigen presentation is required for the pathogenesis of acute cardiac allograft rejection

H Noorchashm, AJ Reed, SY Rostami… - The Journal of …, 2006 - journals.aai.org
H Noorchashm, AJ Reed, SY Rostami, R Mozaffari, G Zekavat, B Koeberlein, AJ Caton
The Journal of Immunology, 2006journals.aai.org
Acute allograft rejection requires the activation of alloreactive CD4 T cells. Despite the
capacity of B cells to act as potent APCs capable of activating CD4 T cells in vivo, their role
in the progression of acute allograft rejection was unclear. To determine the contribution of B
cell APC function in alloimmunity, we engineered mice with a targeted deficiency of MHC
class II-mediated Ag presentation confined to the B cell compartment. Cardiac allograft
survival was markedly prolonged in these mice as compared to control counterparts (median …
Abstract
Acute allograft rejection requires the activation of alloreactive CD4 T cells. Despite the capacity of B cells to act as potent APCs capable of activating CD4 T cells in vivo, their role in the progression of acute allograft rejection was unclear. To determine the contribution of B cell APC function in alloimmunity, we engineered mice with a targeted deficiency of MHC class II-mediated Ag presentation confined to the B cell compartment. Cardiac allograft survival was markedly prolonged in these mice as compared to control counterparts (median survival time,> 70 vs 9.5 days). Mechanistically, deficient B cell-mediated Ag presentation disrupted both alloantibody production and the progression of CD4 T cell activation following heart transplantation. These findings demonstrate that indirect alloantigen presentation by recipients’ B cells plays an important role in the efficient progression of acute vascularized allograft rejection.
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