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-TCR+, and 
-TCR+ Cells in the Recipient Hematopoietic Environment Mediate Resistance to Engraftment of Allogeneic Donor Bone Marrow1


*
Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202;
Department of General and Thoracic Surgery, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany; and
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA 19129
| Abstract |
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-TCR+, 
-TCR+, 
- plus

-TCR+, CD8+, or CD4+ cells
were transplanted with MHC-disparate allogeneic bone marrow.
Conditioning with 500 cGy total body irradiation (TBI) plus a
single dose of cyclophosphamide (CyP) on day +2 establishes chimerism
in normal recipients. When mice were conditioned with 300 cGy TBI plus
a single dose of CyP on day +2, all engrafted, except wild-type
controls and those defective in production of CD4+ T cells.
Mice lacking both 
- and 
-TCR+ cells engrafted
without conditioning, suggesting that both 
- and 
-TCR T
cells in the host play critical and nonredundant roles in preventing
engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow. CD8 knockout (KO) mice engrafted
without TBI, but only if they received CyP on day +2 relative to the
marrow infusion, showing that a CD8- cell was targeted by
the CyP conditioning. The CD8+ cell effector function is
mechanistically different from that for conventional T cells, and
independent of CD4+ T helper cells because CD4 KO mice
require substantially higher levels of conditioning than the other KO
phenotypes. These results suggest that a number of cell populations
with different mechanisms of action mediate resistance to engraftment
of allogeneic marrow. Targeting of specific recipient cellular
populations may permit conditioning approaches to allow mixed chimerism
with minimal morbidity and could potentially avoid the requirement for
myelotoxic agents altogether. | Introduction |
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Mixed allogeneic chimerism has been suggested as a potential approach to induce tolerance to solid organ allografts (8). Mixed chimerism has the following advantages: 1) a relative resistance to graft-vs-host disease (GVHD)4 (3, 9); 2) superior immunocompetence (10, 11); 3) it can be established with partial myeloablative conditioning approaches (10, 12, 13); and 4) it prevents the development of chronic rejection in allografts (14).
Approaches to establish mixed chimerism with partial conditioning have
been successfully pursued. Most conditioning approaches have used a
combination of irradiation, other myelotoxic agents, and nonspecific
immunosuppression (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22). We previously developed a
total body irradiation (TBI)-based model to establish durable
multilineage mixed chimerism in MHC plus minor Ag disparate recipients
(12). Seven hundred centigray of TBI alone was required
for 100% engraftment of MHC-disparate allogeneic bone marrow. The
posttransplant administration of cyclophosphamide (CyP) (day +2)
significantly reduced the minimum dose of TBI sufficient to establish
mixed chimerism in 100% of recipients to 500 cGy (12).
The addition of anti-lymphocyte globulin (ALG) (day -3) to the
peritransplant-conditioning further reduced the minimum TBI dose to 200
cGy (23). We hypothesized that CyP and ALG removed
activated alloreactive host cells from the repertoire. In the present
study, we have characterized which host effector cells mediate
alloresistance for engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow using mice
genetically modified to lack production of specific cell types
(knockout (KO) mice). We report for the first time that

-TCR+ as well as

-TCR+ T cells play critical and
nonredundant roles in alloresistance to engraftment. Their mechanism of
action was CyP, and to a slightly lesser extent, radiation-sensitive,
because mice that did not produce 
- and 
-T cells did not
require any conditioning, while mice lacking only 
-T cells or
only 
-T cells required low-dose TBI plus CyP to engraft. In
addition, CD8+ cells in the recipient exert a
CD4-independent effect, as shown by requirement for significant
conditioning for CD4 KO mice to engraft. A better understanding of the
mechanism of engraftment and the role of host conditioning will enable
development of cell-specific partial conditioning approaches associated
with less toxicity than the nonspecific agents currently in
use.
| Materials and Methods |
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Transplant donor, B10.BR.SgSnJ (B10.BR;
H-2k), and various recipient mice: C57BL/6J (B6;
H2b), C57BL/6-TcrbtmlMom
(TCR-
KO, as 
-TCR T cell-deficient recipients),
C57BL/6-TcrdtmlMom (TCR-
KO, as 
-T
cell-deficient recipients), C57BL/6-TcrbtmlMom
TcrdtmlMom (TCR-
/TCR-
double KO, as 
-
and 
-T cell deficient recipients),
C57BL/6-Cd8Tm/mak (CD8 KO),
C57BL/10-Cd4tml (CD4 KO), and
C57BL/6J-CD4tm/mak (CD4 KO) were purchased from
The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). Mice were housed in a
special pathogen-free barrier facility at the Institute for Cellular
Therapeutics (Louisville, KY). Mice were cared for according to
National Institutes of Health animal care guidelines.
Chimera preparation
Bone marrow was prepared from B10.BR donor mice as previously described (8). Briefly, B10.BR donor mice were euthanized and tibias and femurs were harvested. Bone marrow was expelled from the bones with Media 199 (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) containing 10 µg/ml Gentamicin (Life Technologies), referred to thereafter as chimera media (CM). The cells were filtered through sterile nylon mesh with 100 µm pores, centrifuged at 1000 rpm for 10 min at 4°C, and resuspended in CM. A cell count was performed, and the cells were diluted to a final concentration of 15 x 106 bone marrow cells per 1 ml of CM.
Recipient mice were treated with 0300 cGy TBI from a cesium source (Gamma-cell 40, Nordion, Ontario, Canada). Animals were transplanted with 1 ml CM containing 15 x 106 B10.BR bone marrow cells via lateral tail vein injection within 46 h after irradiation. All animals in groups treated with CyP received a single i.p. injection of 200 mg/kg CyP (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) 48 h after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Each experiment was repeated at least three times.
Flow cytometric analysis
The level of hematopoietic chimerism was assessed monthly after BMT by flow cytometric analysis of PBL using mAb against MHC Ags of donor and host origin. Fifty microliters of whole blood obtained by tail-bleeding of the mice were incubated at room temperature for 8 min with lysing buffer (8.29 g of NH4Cl, 1.0 g of KHCO3, and 0.0372 g Na2EDTA in 1 liter H2O; prepared in our laboratory) to eliminate RBC. The leukocytes were then incubated with 10 µl diluted mAb for 30 min at 4°C in the dark. The appropriate dilution for the use of the mAb was determined in titration experiments before use. The cells were washed twice with 2 ml of FACS medium (0.36 g NaHCO3, 1.0 g NaN3, and 1.0 g BSA in 1 liter HBSS; prepared in our laboratory) and centrifuged at 1000 rpm for 10 min at 4°C. Finally, the cells were fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde in PBS (prepared in our laboratory). The analysis was conducted on a FACSCalibur (BD Biosciences, Mountain View, CA) with CellQuest software (BD Biosciences).
mAbs
Abs specific for MHC class I Ags of donor FITC-conjugated
anti-H2Kk, (36-7-5, mouse IgG1) and recipient
PE-conjugated anti-H2Kb (AF6-88.5, mouse
IgG2a) origin were used to determine the percentage of donor cell
chimerism in the recipients peripheral blood. Multilineage
engraftment was assessed by staining with biotinylated
anti-H2Kk (36-7-5, mouse IgG1),
FITC-conjugated anti-H2Kb (AF6-88.5, mouse
IgG2a) and PE-conjugated lineage markers 3 mo after BMT. The
biotinylated Ab was counterstained with streptavidin-allophycocyanin.
The following Abs were used as lineage markers: anti-GR-1 (RB6-8C5,
rat IgG2b), anti-MAC-1 (M1/70, rat IgG2b), anti-CD4 (RM4-5, rat
IgG2a), anti-CD8
(53-6.7, rat IgG2a), anti-B220 (RA3-6B2,
rat IgG2a), anti-NK1.1 (PK136, mouse IgG2a), anti-TCR-
-chain
(H57-597, hamster IgG), and anti-
-TCR (GL3, hamster IgG). NK
subpopulations were assessed by four-color staining in naive B6,
TCR-
KO, TCR-
KO, TCR-
/TCR-
KO, and CD8 KO mice with
FITC-conjugated anti-TCR-
/TCR-
, PerCP-conjugated
anti-CD3e (145-2C11, hamster IgG), APC-conjugated anti-CD8a,
and PE-conjugated NK subpopulation markers. The following Abs were used
as NK subpopulation markers: anti-NK1.1, anti-5E6 (5E6, mouse
IgG2a), anti-2B4 (2B4, mouse IgG2b), and anti-DX5 (DX5, rat
IgM). Nonspecific background staining was controlled by using isotype
control Abs directed against irrelevant Ags conjugated with the same
color as the experimental Ab (i.e., anti-TNP mouse IgG2a Ags
conjugated with PE served as isotype control for PE-conjugated
anti-H2Kb mouse IgG2a). All mAb were obtained
from BD PharMingen (San Diego, CA). Streptavidin-allophycocyanin was
purchased from BD Biosciences.
Assessment of GVHD
The primary diagnosis of GVHD was based on previously described clinical criteria, which consist of diffuse erythema (particularly of the ear), hyperkeratosis of the foot pads, hair loss, weight loss, unkempt appearance, or diarrhea (24). At the time of sacrifice, sections of skin, tongue, liver, and small intestine were fixed in 10% buffered formalin, stained with H&E, and processed for light microscopy.
Skin grafting
Skin grafting was performed by a modification of the method of Billingham (25). Full-thickness tail-skin grafts were harvested from the tails of B10.BR and nonobese diabetic (NOD) (H2Kd) mice. Recipient mice were anesthetized with Nembutal (pentobarbital sodium injection; Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL), and full-thickness graft beds were prepared surgically in the lateral thoracic wall, while preserving the panniculus carnosum. The grafts were covered with a double layer of Vaseline gauze and a plaster cast. Casts were removed on day 7, and grafts were scored by daily inspection for the first month, then weekly thereafter for percentage of rejection. Rejection was defined as complete when no residual viable graft could be detected.
Statistical analysis
Statistical significance was determined with a Students one-way t test. The difference between groups was considered to be significant if p < 0.05.
| Results |
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, TCR-
/TCR-
and CD8 KO mice require less TBI for
engraftment
Conditioning with 500 cGy TBI followed by CyP treatment (day +2
relative to marrow infusion) is sufficient to establish durable
chimerism in MHC-disparate as well as MHC- plus minor Ag-disparate
recipients (12). The administration of CyP before
transplantation is not sufficient to establish engraftment with 500 cGy
TBI. We hypothesized that the administration of CyP on day +2 removes
alloreactive host T-lymphocytes that have been activated by the marrow
infusion. To evaluate which host cells play a role in engraftment, mice
deficient in production of 
-TCR+,

-TCR+, both

-TCR+ and

-TCR+, CD8+, and
CD4+ cells were used as recipients. All are
H-2b in MHC (B6). A total of 15 x
106 bone marrow cells from B10.BR donor mice were
administered. One hundred percent of TCR-
/TCR-
KO recipients
engrafted after conditioning with 300 cGy TBI plus CyP
(n = 8) (Fig. 1
A). The level of chimerism
was 41.8 ± 1.2% 1 mo following BMT (Fig. 1
B).
Similarly, 100% of TCR-
KO mice engrafted after conditioning with
300 cGy TBI plus CyP (n = 14; Fig. 1
A). The
level of chimerism was similar to that for the TCR-
/TCR-
KO
recipients (42.5 ± 14%) (Fig. 1
B). The engraftment
was durable and multilineage. Similarly, engraftment occurred in 100%
of CD8 KO mice conditioned with 300 cGy TBI plus CyP (n
= 16; Fig. 1
A). The level of chimerism was 48.7 ±
18.1% at 1 mo posttransplantation. At 3 mo, donor chimerism was
30.3 ± 8.4%, and remained stable for
6 mo. In striking
contrast, only five of nine (56%) 
-TCR KO recipients engrafted,
and the level of chimerism was significantly lower in mice that
engrafted (14.5 ± 4.3%) compared with the TCR-
KO
(p < 0.005) and TCR-
/TCR-
double KO mice
(p < 0.005) (Fig. 1
B). CD4 KO mice
conditioned in a similar fashion did not engraft (n =
20), suggesting that host CD8+ cells and 
-
and 
-TCR+ T cells play a major role in
alloresistance to engraftment, while CD4+ cells
do not. Moreover, the effector cells in alloresistance did not require
CD4+ cells, because CD4 KO mice require
significant levels of conditioning for engraftment. As expected, B6
control mice did not engraft when conditioned, and transplanted in a
similar fashion (n = 6; Fig. 1
A).
|

- and 
-T cells do not require CyP
conditioning for engraftment
It is hypothesized that CyP on day +2 relative to the marrow
infusion removes alloreactive T lymphocytes that have been activated by
alloantigen (17). To evaluate the contribution of CyP to
the conditioning approach and further define which host cells were the
target on the day +2 CyP infusion, TCR-
KO, TCR-
KO,
TCR-
/TCR-
KO, and CD8 KO mice were conditioned with 300 cGy of
TBI and transplanted with 15 x 106 B10.BR
bone marrow cells (Fig. 2
). Neither the
TCR-
KO (n = 6), the TCR-
KO (n =
6), nor CD8 KO (n = 4) mice engrafted. A total of 100%
of the TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice engrafted (n = 6). The
level of chimerism was 76.1 ± 10.4% 1 mo post-BMT and was
durable for
6 mo. Therefore, these data suggest that recipient

-TCR+ T cells as well as

-TCR+ T cells contribute to alloresistance
to engraftment, and support the hypothesis that alloreactive T cells
are the primary target for the CyP conditioning in wild-type
recipients.
|
/TCR-
KO mice engraft with minimal conditioning
A dose-titration of TBI was performed to determine the minimal
conditioning required in mice deficient in production of 
- and

-TCR+ T cells. A total of 100% of mice
conditioned with 200 cGy (n = 6) or 100 cGy
(n = 7) of TBI engrafted (Fig. 3
A). Eighty-six percent of
TCR-
/TCR-
double KO mice engrafted without any conditioning
(n = 7) (Fig. 3
A). The level of chimerism
was directly correlated with the degree of conditioning (Fig. 3
, BD). The engraftment in all groups was durable for
5 mo.
|
/TCR-
KO mice conditioned with 300 cGy of TBI
alone (76.1 ± 10.4%) vs those conditioned with 300
cGy of TBI plus CyP (42 ± 1.2%). In the absence of the
CyP-sensitive 
- and 
-TCR+ T cells,
when CyP is not required for engraftment to occur, the impact of
conditioning on the level of chimerism that results can be evaluated.
Clearly, CyP itself somewhat impairs engraftment of the donor marrow.
However, in the presence of host 
- and

-TCR+ T cells, CyP is critical to
overcoming the barrier for alloresistance because 0% of the TCR-
and TCR-
single KO recipients engraft without CyP when conditioned
with 300 cGy TBI. Conditioning in CD8 KO mice requires CyP more than TBI
CD8 KO mice were transplanted with 15 x
106 bone marrow cells from B10.BR donors on day
0. A total of 300, 200, 100, or 0 cGy TBI were administered 46 h
before the marrow infusion on day 0. A single dose of CyP was
administered on day +2. Engraftment was present at 1 mo in 100% of
recipients including those that received no TBI (Fig. 4
A). The level of chimerism
was proportional to the dose of TBI (Fig. 4
B). Engraftment
was durable
6 mo in all animals conditioned with 300
(n = 16), 200 (n = 6), and 100
(n = 6) cGy of TBI. The engraftment was multilineage
for donor-derived T cells, B cells, NK cells, macrophages, and
granulocytes. Half of the CD8 KO mice conditioned with only CyP
(n = 6) lost their chimerism by 4 mo. CD8 KO mice did
not engraft with 300 cGy TBI only, but 50% exhibited durable
engraftment without TBI. If CyP were used, these data suggest that the
CD8+ cell population mediating alloresistance is
more sensitive to TBI than to CyP. Therefore, these data also support
that a CyP-sensitive host cell in CD8 KO mice that is probably not a
conventional 
-TCR+ T cell also contributes
to alloresistance.
|
The pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) produces at least 11
different lineages. To confirm that the engraftment in TCR-
/TCR-
double KO recipients reflects engraftment of the pluripotent stem cell,
animals were followed for
3 mo. The engraftment in TCR-
/TCR-
double KO mice conditioned with 300 cGy irradiation and administration
of CyP on day +2 was durable (Fig. 1
C) and multilineage.
Three-color flow cytometric analysis showed the presence of multiple
myeloid and lymphoid lineages of donor and host origin in all engrafted
animals (Table I
, group A). The T cell
lineages deficient in the KO animals were restored after transplant
recipients, and were all of donor origin. Similarly, TCR-
/TCR-
KO
mice conditioned with 300 cGy TBI without CyP (Table I
; group B) as
well as CD8 KO recipients conditioned with 200 cGy TBI plus CyP (Table I
; group C) were evaluated. In all groups, donor-derived T cells, B
cells, NK cells, macrophages, and granulocytes were present, suggesting
engraftment of the HSC itself rather than selected lineages.
|
Skin grafting was performed to assess donor-specific tolerance in
vivo. Five unmanipulated TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice
(H2b) received full-thickness skin grafts of both
B10/BR (H2k) and NOD (H2d)
origin. All grafts survived >160 days, demonstrating that naive
TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice do not reject skin allografts. Both
donor-specific (B10.BR) and MHC-disparate third-party (NOD) skin grafts
were placed on the chimeric TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice with different
levels of donor chimerism (Table II
).
Grafts were assessed daily for the first 4 wk and weekly thereafter for
evidence of rejection. The single nonchimeric mouse accepted the
donor-specific and third party skin grafts in a fashion similar to that
observed in naive TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice. In all other recipients,
donor-specific allogeneic skin grafts were accepted by the mice with
chimerism (range from 2.5 to 71.3%), while third-party skin grafts
were promptly rejected. Therefore, these data demonstrate that
TCR-
/TCR-
KO recipients that engraft as chimeras exhibit
donor-specific tolerance, but are immunocompetent to reject
MHC-disparate third party allografts.
|
KO, TCR-
, TCR-
/TCR-
KO, and CD8 KO mice
T cells, NK cells, and NK/T cells have all been implicated in
alloresistance to engraftment. A number of NK subfamilies have been
described, including 5E6, 2B4 (26), NK/T cells (27, 28), and CD8+ NK cells (27, 29). Marrow and splenocytes from CD8, TCR-
/TCR-
, TCR-
,
and TCR-
KO mice were analyzed by four-color flow cytometry to
enumerate which NK subfamilies might be absent (Fig. 5
). All KO mice produced
NK1.1+ and 5E6+ cells in
marrow and spleen at levels similar to wild-type B6 controls. Marrow
from the TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice contained a significantly lower number
of NK/T cells than B6 mice (p < 0.0019).
2B4+ NK cells were also significantly reduced
(p = 0.0005), and CD8+/NK
cells were virtually absent (p = 0.0046). CD8
KO mice lack CD8+/NK cells (Fig. 5
) as well as
CD8+ T cells, as expected (data not shown). It
could be hypothesized that the NK/T subfamily present in CD8 KO mice
but lacking in TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice may represent the CyP-sensitive
cell, and may explain why CyP is not required to achieve engraftment in
TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice.
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| Discussion |
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Until recently, it was believed that full ablation of the host hematopoietic microenvironment was a prerequisite to achieve engraftment of allogeneic marrow. The discovery that multiple hematopoietic systems can coexist and function in concert in the form of mixed hematopoietic chimerism (8, 31) led to the recognition that partially ablative conditioning may be sufficient. The observation that engraftment of physiologic numbers of sygeneic bone marrow cells required low-dose conditioning (32), and that substantially more TBI was required for MHC-matched but minor Ag-disparate (32, 12), and MHC-disparate marrow (12) led to the hypothesis that more than one host mechanism is probably operational in engraftment of allogeneic marrow (12). Down et al. (32) hypothesized that the differences in radiation dose for syngeneic vs allogeneic engraftment may represent removal of specific host cell populations with differing radiosensitivities.
A number of studies have demonstrated that engraftment can be achieved
using partial conditioning (22, 33, 34). To date, most
protocols have used nonspecific cytoreductive immunosuppressive and/or
mAb treatment. Two stages occur in the early events in engraftment:
host factors that control whether the donor marrow can engraft
(alloresistance), and alloreactive host cells that can reject grafts
that initially engrafted. One of three outcomes can occur: 1) the graft
may never take; 2) the graft may take and then be rejected or be only
transient due to failure of survival of self-renewing HSC; and 3)
durable engraftment may occur. We and others have shown that
CD8+ cells play an important role in host
alloresistance to engraftment (22, 35, 36). Conditioning
of recipients with a combination of both anti-CD4 and anti-CD8
depleting and nondepleting mAb allows engraftment of MHC-congenic
marrow (35). The addition of 600850 cGy of TBI
(13) or 300 cGy of TBI plus 700 cGy of thymic irradiation
(20) is required if the donor and recipient are
MHC-disparate. It was concluded from those studies that conventional
thymic-derived 
-TCR+ T cells were the
primary effector cells being removed by this approach
(20).
In our own model of partial conditioning to achieve stable mixed chimerism, the TBI dose could be reduced from 700 to 300 cGy TBI if ALG (day -3) plus a single dose of CyP were administrated on day +2 (12, 21). If the CyP was administrated before the TBI and BMT, engraftment did not occur. If ALG was given without CyP, engraftment occurred but was only transient. Moreover, if the ALG was replaced by in vivo pretreatment of the recipient with anti-CD8 mAb, a higher level of chimerism was consistently achieved. Anti-CD4 mAb pretreatment of the recipient did not replace the ALG. One caveat to preconditioning of normal recipients with mAb is that all putative effector cells may not be coated or depleted. The presence of immunocompetent residual CD8+ cells after mAb treatment has been demonstrated. Rosenberg et al. (37) demonstrated that CD8+ cells are the main effector cells in the rejection of MHC class I disparate skin grafts. Ichikawa et al. (38) reported that skin grafts with MHC class I disparities are rejected in CD8-depleted recipients. Rosenberg et al. (39) characterized the cell populations that mediated this rejection, and found it to be mediated by a small number of residual CD8+ cells, despite the fact that >99% of the CD8+ cells had been removed. To avoid the variable of residual effector cells in our studies, we used mice that were genetically deficient in the production of these cells. Thus, no residual cells are present in these animals.
T cells have been implicated as the primary effector cells in solid
organ allograft rejection. Targeting 
-TCR+
T cells significantly prolongs survival of skin grafts
(40). Although the same effect could be achieved by
targeting CD3+ T cells, animals prepared by
depletion of 
-TCR+ cells demonstrated
superior immunocompetence (40). Similarly, TCR-
KO mice
do not reject MHC-disparate cardiac allografts (41). BMT
from normal B10.BR donors restores the immunocompetence to reject
third-party cardiac allografts in TCR-
KO mice (41). In
the present studies, we have demonstrated that TCR-
KO mice do not
accept allogeneic bone marrow without conditioning.
The role of T cells in rejection of bone marrow grafts has not been
fully defined. When Kernan et al. (42) characterized the
cells present in recipients of HLA-mismatched bone marrow grafts at the
time of rejection, they found that graft failure was associated with
the emergence of donor-reactive T cells. Other groups report that
CD2+, CD3+, and
CD8+ T cells of recipient origin in the
peripheral blood of bone marrow recipients effectively inhibit the
proliferation and differentiation of donor bone marrow cells in vitro
(43). CyP has been shown to deplete activated T cells
(17, 21, 44). Therefore, it is likely that the
engraftment-enhancing effect of CyP on day +2 is due to the effect on
activated donor-reactive cells. The results of the experiments
described here confirm a critical role for host

-TCR+ as well as

-TCR+ T cells in the resistance to
engraftment of allogeneic bone marrow. Animals deficient in the
production of both 
- and 
-TCR+ T
cells are significantly enhanced in their ability to accept allogeneic
bone marrow grafts compared with wild-type controls. If both host

- and 
-TCR+ T cells are lacking,
allogeneic marrow is accepted with little or no conditioning. Mice
lacking 
-TCR+ cells alone engraft only if
CyP is administered 2 days after BMT after conditioning with 300 cGy
TBI, suggesting that 
-T cells also contribute in a significant
fashion to alloresistance. Mice lacking

-TCR+ T cells exhibit enhanced engraftment,
although to a lesser extent than those lacking

-TCR+ cells, as evidenced by the fact that
only 56% engrafted after conditioning with 300 cGy TBI plus CyP. Taken
together, these data confirm that host

-TCR+ T cells as well as

-TCR+ T cells exert a critical influence on
engraftment of allogeneic marrow. This finding is supported by the fact
that only mice deficient in production of 
- plus

-TCR+ T cells (TCR-
/TCR-
KO) reliably
engraft with a low TBI dose alone or even no conditioning at all,
confirming that both 
- and 
-TCR+
cells in the host contribute in a nonredundant and critical fashion in
alloresistance to engraftment. These data also refute a role for
conventional NK cells as the primary effector cells in allogeneic
marrow graft rejection.
In the present studies, we defined a critical role for host
CD8+ cells in regulating engraftment. Durable,
multilineage engraftment occurred in all CD8 KO mice conditioned with
CyP plus low dose TBI, and in 50% of CD8 KO mice conditioned with CyP
alone. The level of chimerism was directly correlated with the dose of
TBI. In striking contrast, none of the CD4 KO mice conditioned with as
high as 300 cGy TBI plus CyP engrafted when transplanted in a similar
fashion. These results demonstrate that TBI-sensitive
CD8+ cells in the wild-type recipient
hematopoietic microenvironment play a critical role in marrow
rejection. Because CD8 KO mice produce

-TCR+ T cells and
CD4+ 
-TCR+ T cells,
it could be hypothesized that in addition to

-TCR+ T cells a separate
CD8+ cell in normal recipients contributes to
alloresistance. The fact that TCR-
KO mice required TBI plus CyP to
engraft while CD8 KO mice engraft with CyP conditioning alone supports
this hypothesis. Moreover, a CD8- cell in the
CD8 KO recipient that is CyP-sensitive also contributes to
alloresistance, because TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice engraft with no
conditioning while TCR-
KO mice require TBI plus CyP. However, the
fact that NK/T cells are present in the marrow of CD8 KO mice, although
not present in TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice, could support a role for a
subfamily of NK cells contributing to alloresistance as well. If the
sole effector cell were
CD8+/TCR+ T cells, it would
be expected for the CD8 KO mice to have similar conditioning
requirements to the TCR-
KO mice.
NK cells have been implicated as playing a major role in marrow
rejection (24, 45). Several subfamilies of NK cells have
been described, including 5E6, 2B4, and DX5. The
5E6+ NK cells comprise 50% of NK cells and have
been demonstrated to influence engraftment and hematopoiesis (46, 47). The fact that the NK1.1+ and 5E6 NK
subsets are present in TCR-
KO, TCR-
KO, TCR-
/TCR-
, and CD8
KO mice at levels similar to that for B6 control mice suggests that
these subfamilies probably do not play a major role in graft rejection.
The fact that mice which lack 
- and/or

-TCR+ T cells engraft with less
conditioning strongly supports a critical role for conventional T cells
rather than NK cells in alloresistance. Moreover, the fact that TCR-
KO mice have no NK/T cells and still require conditioning makes it
unlikely that NK/T cells contribute significantly to alloresistance to
engraftment.
It is of note that CD4 KO mice did not engraft when conditioned with
300 cGy TBI plus CyP, although CD8 KO, TCR-
KO, and TCR-
KO mice
did. The classic pathway to initiate cytotoxicity mediated by
CD8+ T cells requires the help of
CD4+ cells (48). However, pathways
of CD4+ cell-independent initiation of
cytotoxicity have been described. Purified CD8+
cells can mount cytolytic responses without CD4 mediated help in vitro
(49, 50) and in vivo (51). Another
CD4-independent CD8-mediated mechanism of cytotoxicity is an NK-like
mechanism of alloreactivity (52). A number of groups have
described an overlap between T cells and NK cells. Dennert et al.
(53) have suggested that CD3+
NK1.1+ cells can develop into
CD8+ cytotoxic T cells during acute rejection of
allogeneic bone marrow grafts. Although T cell-mediated cytotoxicity
usually requires activation and takes
78 days to generate a
cytotoxic response (54), rejection via NK cells occurs
within 45 days (54). However, the early events of
alloreactivity for T cell activation take only hours after exposure to
Ag (55, 56). Our data demonstrate a critical role for a
CD4-independent CD8-mediated mechanism that mediates resistance to
engraftment in recipients of allogeneic bone marrow. Although this
could be due to T cells or NK/T cells, the fact that

-TCR+ T cells play a significant role in
alloresistance to engraftment and that TCR-
/TCR-
KO mice produce
NK cells strongly supports a role for conventional T cells.
CyP suppresses cell-mediated immunity and induces quantitative and
qualitative changes in the lymphocyte repertoire (57). The
administration of CyP results in leukopenia by depletion of mononuclear
cell populations. At the same time, CyP can mediate a marked decrease
in the cellular cytotoxic function of the remaining cells
(57). We previously confirmed that the administration of
CyP in the preparative regimen enhances allogeneic engraftment if it is
administered 2 days after low dose TBI and bone marrow infusion. A
similar effect does not occur if the CyP is administered before marrow
infusion in this model (21). It was hypothesized that the
mechanism for this effect involves elimination of alloreactive T cells
from the recipient during the early stages of priming. In the present
studies, the fact that mice lacking 
- and 
-TCR T cells
engraft with very low doses of TBI alone suggests that these cell types
are two major targets removed by CyP in wild-type recipients.
The level of engraftment in TCR-
/TCR-
double KO mice was higher
in animals conditioned with 300 cGy TBI alone as compared with animals
conditioned with 300 cGy TBI and CyP. We hypothesize that this is due
to the fact that proliferation of donor reactive T cell clones is
triggered within 2 days after BMT, rendering these cells an optimal
target for CyP. At the same time, recipient-reactive T cell clones of
donor origin that are proliferating against host alloantigens will be
depleted by CyP as well. Thus, it would be expected for the level of
engraftment to be higher in TCR-
/TCR-
double KO mice when CyP is
not administered. Recipient-reactive donor T cells will not be depleted
in animals conditioned without CyP. This could theoretically increase
the level of donor chimerism, because T cells enhance engraftment
through graft-vs-host reactivity. However, when 
- and

-TCR+ T cells are present in the host, CyP
is essential to neutralize their alloreactivity. Alternatively, there
may be a CyP-sensitive mechanism which inhibits a residual rejection
mechanism in 
- and 
-T cells.
The fact that CD8 KO mice do not require TBI for conditioning suggests
that a TBI-sensitive population of CD8+ host
marrow cells also contributes to alloresistance. The target of the TBI
could be CD8+ T cells, or alternatively, a
different cell type. TBI does not completely eliminate conventional T
cells from the recipient microenvironment, even at high doses.
Davenport et al. (58) described that
CD8+ T cells of host origin capable of rejecting
MHC mismatched donor bone marrow persist even in ablated mice (950
cGy). The importance of this phenomenon has been shown clinically in
patients with graft rejection where donor-reactive T cell clones
present before conditioning re-emerged after BMT (59). In
the present studies, we observed that CyP is required to prevent
rejection of allogeneic bone marrow grafts in mice conditioned with 300
cGy TBI, unless the animals lack both 
- and

-TCR+ T cells, in which case the
requirement for CyP but not TBI is eliminated to achieve significant
levels of engraftment. These data therefore confirm that donor-reactive
T cells in the recipient hematopoietic environment are not completely
removed by low dose irradiation.
A low dose of TBI is required for conditioning if physiologic numbers
of syngeneic bone marrow cells are administrated (32). It
is important to note that CD8 KO mice engraft without TBI, but do not
engraft if CyP is omitted from the conditioning. The level of
engraftment is proportional to the irradiation dose and in this way
resembles the characteristics of syngeneic engraftment. Therefore, our
data confirm that host CD8+ cells as well as

-T cells and 
-T cells each play a mechanistically different
role in engraftment of MHC-disparate marrow.
Our data suggest that more than one cell type mediate the rejection of
fully MHC and minor Ag disparate bone marrow grafts, showing a critical
role for recipient 
-TCR+ and

-TCR+ T cells, but also implicating an
additional population CD8+ cells in the
resistance to allogeneic bone marrow grafts. It is likely that the
different cell types mediate rejection by different mechanisms.
Interestingly, CD8+ host cells reject allogeneic
bone marrow in the complete absence of CD4+
cells, suggesting a CD4 independent mechanism. Targeting 
- and

-TCR+ T cells, as well as
CD8+ cells in the recipient may allow a specific
approach to the development of cell-specific conditioning strategies to
establish mixed chimerism with less toxicity. If so, mixed chimerism
could be more readily applied for tolerance induction, in gene therapy
and treatment of nonmalignant diseases, autoimmune diseases, and
hematological disorders, such as sickle cell disease and
thalassemia.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 H.X. and B.G.E. contributed equally in this study. ![]()
3 Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr. Suzanne T. Ildstad, University of Louisville, 570 South Preston Street, Suite 404, Louisville, KY 40202-1760. E-mail address: stilds01{at}gwise.louisville.edu ![]()
4 Abbreviations used in this paper: GVHD, graft-vs-host disease; TBI, total body irradiation; CyP, cyclophosphamide; ALG, antilymphocyte globuln; KO, knockout; BMT, bone marrow transplantation; NOD, nonobese diabetic; HSC, hematopoietic stem cell; CM, chimeria media. ![]()
Received for publication July 13, 2001. Accepted for publication November 28, 2001.
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TCR+NK1.1+ cells. J. Immunol. 145:3209.[Abstract]

-TCR on lymphoid cells in fully xenogeneic (ratrarrow]mouse) chimeras and syngeneically reconstituted (A
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mutant skin allografts differing at class I MHC. Nature 322:829.[Medline]

monoclonal antibodies preserving resistance to bacterial infection. Immunology 81:198.[Medline]

TCR+ T cells play a nonredundant role in the rejection of heart allografts in mice. Surgery 126:121.[Medline]
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