Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
3257339 | Clinical Immunology | 2009 | 5 Pages |
Donor cell microchimerism induces tolerance in animal models and may increase graft survival in man. Since dendritic cells (DC) are critical for induction of both tolerance and alloreactivity we developed a method to quantitate microchimerism in donor DC and non-DC in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) after lung transplantation. Longitudinal analysis of donor cell microchimerism in eleven sex mismatched lung transplant recipients (LTR) up to 12 months post-transplant used Y chromosome based real-time PCR on sorted cells. Total DC or a proportion of DC subsets in PBMC did not change but there were heterogeneous and dynamic changes in microchimerism in DC and non-DC. Analysis of changes in DC using a mixed model analysis showed significantly less reduction in DC compared to non-DC over time (0.49, p = 0.001). Preferential DC persistence compared to non-DC may indicate tolerance induction but future studies are required to determine if DC microchimerism after transplantation affects clinical outcomes.