Heterogeneity in allospecific T cell function in transplant-tolerant hosts determines susceptibility to rejection following infection.

ABSTRACT: Even when successfully induced, immunological tolerance to solid organs remains vulnerable to inflammatory insults, which can trigger rejection. In a mouse model of cardiac allograft tolerance in which infection with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) precipitates rejection of previously accepted grafts, we showed that recipient CD4+ TCR75 cells reactive to a donor MHC class I-derived peptide become hypofunctional if the allograft is accepted for more than 3 weeks. Paradoxically, infection-induced transplant rejection was not associated with transcriptional or functional reinvigoration of TCR75 cells. We hypothesized that there is heterogeneity in the level of dysfunction of different allospecific T cells, depending on duration of their cognate antigen expression. Unlike CD4+ TCR75 cells, CD4+ TE

SUBMITTER: McIntosh CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10617766 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature