Host-Based Th2 Cell Therapy for Prolongation of Cardiac Allograft Viability
Figure 2
Host Th2.R cell infusion prolongs cardiac allograft survival.
Rat allogeneic cardiac transplants was performed and assigned to one of five treatment cohorts, including: no drug and no cell therapy (“rejection control”); 28-day daily cyclosporine A therapy [“CSA(28);” engraftment control]; Th2.R adoptive cell therapy alone on the day of transplant [“Th2.R(d0)”]; 18-day, short-course CSA therapy alone [“CSA(18)”; experimental control]; or a combination of short-course CSA plus Th2.R cell therapy [“CSA(18)+Th2.R(d0)”]. (a) At day 28 post-transplant, recipients were euthanized and spleen, inguinal lymph nodes, and mesenteric lymph nodes were harvested. The frequency of activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in each cohort at each organ site was then determined by flow cytometry (percent of CD4+ or CD8+ T cells that co-expressed CD25 in the absence of Foxp3 expression; results are mean ± SEM of 3 evaluated per cohort; *, indicates p≤0.05; **, indicates p≤0.005). Cells harvested at day 28 post-transplant were co-stimulated (b) or allo-stimulated (c & d), and the 24 h supernatants were tested for cytokine content by multiplex assay.