Maternal dendritic cells influence fetal allograft response following murine in-utero hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Background: Intrauterine hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (IUT), potentially curative in congenital haematological disease, is often inhibited by deleterious immune responses to donor cells resulting in subtherapeutic donor cell chimerism (DCC). Microchimerism of maternal immune cells (MMc) trafficked into transplanted recipients across the placenta may directly influence donor-specific alloresponsiveness, limiting DCC. We hypothesized that dendritic cells (DC) among trafficked MMc influence the development of tolerogenic or immunogenic responses towards donor cells, and investigated if maternal DC-depletion reduced recipient alloresponsiveness and enhanced DCC.

Methods: Using transgenic CD11c.DTR (C57BL/6) female mice enabled transient maternal DC-depletion with a single dose of diphtheria toxin (DT). CD11c.DTR females and BALB/c males were cross-mated, producing hybrid pups. IUT was performed at E14 following maternal DT administration 24 h prior. Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells were transplanted, obtained from semi-allogenic BALB/c (paternal-derived; pIUT), C57BL/6 (maternal-derived; mIUT), or fully allogenic (aIUT) C3H donor mice. Recipient F1 pups were analyzed for DCC, while maternal and IUT-recipient immune cell profile and reactivity were examined via mixed lymphocyte reactivity functional assays. T- and B-cell receptor repertoire diversity in maternal and recipient cells were examined following donor cell exposure.

Results: DCC was highest and MMc was lowest following pIUT. In contrast, aIUT recipients had the lowest DCC and the highest MMc. In groups that were not DC-depleted, maternal cells trafficked post-IUT displayed reduced TCR & BCR clonotype diversity, while clonotype diversity was restored when dams were DC-depleted. Additionally, recipients displayed increased expression of regulatory T-cells and immune-inhibitory proteins, with reduced proinflammatory cytokine and donor-specific antibody production. DC-depletion did not impact initial donor chimerism. Postnatal transplantation without immunosuppression of paternal donor cells did not increase DCC in pIUT recipients; however there were no donor-specific antibody production or immune cell changes.

Conclusions: Though maternal DC depletion did not improve DCC, we show for the first time that MMc influences donor-specific alloresponsiveness, possibly by expanding alloreactive clonotypes, and depleting maternal DC promotes and maintains acquired tolerance to donor cells independent of DCC, presenting a novel approach to enhancing donor cell tolerance following IUT. This may have value when planning repeat HSC transplantations to treat haemoglobinopathies.