Depletion of host Langerhans cells before transplantation of donor alloreactive T cells prevents skin graft-versus-host disease.

ABSTRACT: Skin is the most commonly affected organ in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). To explore the role of Langerhans cells in GVHD, the principal dendritic cells of the skin, we studied the fate of these cells in mice transplanted with allogeneic bone marrow. In contrast to other dendritic cells, host Langerhans cells were replaced by donor Langerhans cells only when donor T cells were administered along with bone marrow, and the extent of Langerhans cell chimerism correlated with the dose of donor T cells injected. Donor T cells depleted host Langerhans cells through a Fas-dependent pathway and induced the production in skin of CCL20, which was required for the recruitment of donor Langerhans cells. Administration of donor T cells to bone marrow-chimeric mice with persistent host Langerhans ce

SUBMITTER: Merad M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4727841 | biostudies-literature | 2004 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature