Single-cell transcriptional landscape of liver transplant rejection reveals tissue persistence of clonally expanded, treatment-resistant T cells.

ABSTRACT: T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) affects ∼50% of pediatric liver transplant recipients within 5 years, and late TCMR is associated with graft failure due to ineffective treatment. Although CD8⁺ T cells promote late TCMR, their clonal expansion, intragraft persistence, localization, and gene expression remain largely undefined. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing and immune repertoire profiling of 30 cryopreserved liver biopsies from rejecting and nonrejecting pediatric patients identified expanded intragraft CD8⁺ T cell clonotypes (CD8_EXP) and their gene expression profiles. Expanded CD8⁺ clonotypes (CD8_EXP) bore markers of effector and CD56^hiCD161^- "natural killer-like" T cells, retaining their clonotype identity an

SUBMITTER: Peters AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12674165 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature