Abstract
Donor-specific alloantibody presents a major barrier to the successful transplantation of kidneys and hearts. However, the study of alloantibody production has been hampered by both an inadequate source of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) and a paucity of assays to determine their function. We describe two new assays that allow for the determination of the frequency and specificities of allo-ASCs in humans using purified HLA as targets. These assays demonstrated allo-ASCs in the CD138+ fraction of the bone marrow, but not in peripheral blood. Alloantibody specificities in these assays correlated well with those detected in the serum suggesting that bone marrow-derived ASCs are indeed a major source of alloantibody in vivo. However, ASCs for a specific HLA antigen were rare with an estimated frequency of only 1/2 × 106 marrow cells. Pretransplant treatment in vivo with multiple plasmaphereses and low-dose IVIG alone or in combination with rATG had no effect on ASC number or alloantibody production. These techniques allow for the study of allospecific ASCs and provide a method to test the potential efficacy of agents on alloantibody production in vivo.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 133-143 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | American Journal of Transplantation |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2008 |
Keywords
- Alloantibody
- HLA
- Kidney transplant
- Plasma cell
- rATG
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Transplantation
- Pharmacology (medical)