Irinotecan combined with co-stimulatory molecule blockade prolongs survival of cardiac allografts in alloantigen-primed mice

•Irinotecan plus anti-LFA-1/CD154 combination was tested on allograft survival in mice.•The combined treatment prevents graft rejection accelerated by alloantigen priming.•Th1 immunity and memory T cell function are inhibited by the combination therapy.•This combination increases secretion of IL-10/TGF-β and regulatory T cell generation.

Memory T cells play an important role in graft rejection. In this study, we investigated the potential effect of Irinotecan (CPT-11), a topoisomerase I inhibitor used in the treatment of a variety of solid tumor malignancies, on memory T cells. CPT-11 treatment alone or combined with blocking monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against co-stimulatory molecules (LFA-1 and CD154) was evaluated in the prevention of heart transplant rejection in alloantigen-primed mice. Our data suggest that CPT-11 reduced the expression of IL-2/IFN-γ and increased IL-10/TGF-β expression in both peripheral blood and within the grafts. CPT-11 could also inhibit alloresponses of memory T cells, while decreasing the proportion of CD4+ memory T cells in the spleen of the recipients and significantly reducing serum alloantibody levels. Our study highlights obvious synergistic effects of CPT-11 when combined with co-stimulatory molecule blockade in prolonging the survival of cardiac allografts in alloantigen-primed mice.