Donor-derived alloantigen-presenting cells persist in the liver allograft during tolerance induction

The predictive value of chimerism was evaluated in three different transplantation models in the rat without immunosuppression: small bowel- (SBTx), liver- (LTx), and liver/small bowel transplantation (LSBTx) were performed in the Brown Norway (BN)-to-Lewis-(LEW) strain combination. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry were used to identify donor cells in the recipient's spleen. Their number did not change significantly during transient rejection or tolerance after LTx and LSBTx. However, the amount of donor-derived nonparenchymal cells within the liver allograft including antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic and Kupffer cells, clearly mirrored the recipient's immune status: as expected, their number decreased during rejection, but recovered considerably during and after tolerance induction. We conclude that donor cells in the periphery of the recipient correlate with the presence of the allograft, but do not seem to influence graft acceptance actively. However, the kinetics of the detected donor APC population in the liver suggests their important role in modifying the recipient's immune response towards tolerance.