Background: Stable mixed-donor-host-hematopoietic chimerism can serve as a platform for adoptive immunotherapy. Infusions of donor lymphocytes (DLI) sensitized against hematopoietic cells converted mixed hematopoietic into full-donor chimerism in dog-leukocyte antigen (DLA)-identical littermates. Whether sensitization against tissue of solid organs leads to organ-specific immunity that can be transferred by DLI was unknown and was investigated in these experiments using the kidney as target.
Methods: DLA-identical recipients with established stable mixed-donor-host-hematopoietic chimerism were used. In five pairs, hematopoietic stem-cell transplant (HSCT) donors were sensitized by kidney transplantation from the respective chimeras. In a second group, five HSCT donors received vaccinations that were generated from kidney cells of the respective mixed chimeras. Twenty-eight days after sensitization, DLI were administered to the mixed-hematopoietic chimeras.
Results: All HSCT donors rejected their kidney grafts from their mixed-chimeric recipients within 22 to 45 days. DLI caused no sustained graft-versus-kidney effects in the mixed-chimeric recipients. However, DLI donors sensitized by kidney transplantation converted 4 of 5 mixed chimeras into virtually complete (>95%) donor-type chimeras, compared with 1 of 5 mixed chimeras given DLI by vaccination from sensitized donors.
Conclusion: Although DLA-identical kidney grafts from mixed-hematopoietic chimeras were readily rejected by their HSCT donors, subsequent transfusions of sensitized-donor lymphocytes into mixed chimeras converted mixed to all-donor chimerism but failed to induce graft-versus-kidney effects. Vaccination strategies in lieu of kidney grafts failed to convert mixed chimerism.