Campath-1H does not alter bone marrow cell regulatory function

We have previously reported in laboratory volunteers (in vitro) and renal transplant recipients (ex vivo) that bone marrow cells (BMC) are potent downregulators of the immune response. Also, the use of alemtuzumab (Campath-1H, C1H) for immunodepletion is associated with the most potent lasting effects yet seen on T-cell immunity in renal transplantation. We questioned whether the administration of C1H to kidney allograft recipients of donor bone marrow cell (DBMC) infusions would lead to stronger or weaker immunoregulatory effects. Human BMC depleted of T cells (nT-BMC) were either untreated or treated with C1H and rabbit complement and compared for their ability to downregulate autologous or allogeneic T-cell responses and to generate T regulatory (T reg) cells. The proliferative responses to anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody of T cells derived from cocultures with C1H-treated or untreated autologous nT-BMC were equally suppressed, i.e., an equivalent alteration in CD3 complex signaling, not regained by the addition of interleukin 2. Adenosine triphosphate levels were also markedly reduced in T cells both from C1H-treated and untreated nT-BMC cocultures. The ability of C1H-treated or untreated nT-BMC to suppress autologous T-cell cytotoxic function was also equivalent, with a marked, but equivalent, capacity to induce CD4/CD25(high) T regs from CD3(+) cells, which effectively downregulated cytotoxic T cells. To mimic the clinical infusion of DBMC into (allogeneic) recipients, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were also cultured with allogeneic C1H-treated and untreated nT-BMC. T cells derived from these cultures secondarily stimulated with the same-donor mature antigen-presenting cells exhibited suppressed cytotoxicity by 85% and 54%, respectively. These in vitro studies suggest that C1H does not abrogate BMC immunoregulation and thus may allow its lympho-depleting effect to be synergistic.