Long-term survival of pig-to-rhesus macaque renal xenografts is dependent on CD4 T cell depletion.

ABSTRACT: The shortage of available organs remains the greatest barrier to expanding access to transplant. Despite advances in genetic editing and immunosuppression, survival in experimental models of kidney xenotransplant has generally been limited to <100 days. We found that pretransplant selection of recipients with low titers of anti-pig antibodies significantly improved survival in a pig-to-rhesus macaque kidney transplant model (6 days vs median survival time 235 days). Immunosuppression included transient pan-T cell depletion and an anti-CD154-based maintenance regimen. Selective depletion of CD4+ T cells but not CD8+ T cells resulted in long-term survival (median survival time >400 days vs 6 days). These studies suggested that CD4+ T cells may have a more prominent role in xenograft rejectio

SUBMITTER: Kim SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6658347 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature