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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
Transplantation of Tail Skin to Study Allogeneic CD4 T Cell Responses in Mice
Published on: July 25, 2014
Effect of CD40 silenced dendritic cells by RNA interference on mice skin allograft rejection
Mohammad Hossein Karimi1, Saeed Marzban, Mohammad Reza Hajiyan
1Transplant Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Aim:
Tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in inducing and maintaining tolerance. CD40 is a member of tumor necrosis factor receptor super family and is a potent T-cell costimulatory molecule. Therefore, in this study we evaluated the effect of CD40 silenced DCs by RNA interference on mice skin allograft rejection.
Materials & Methods:
Skin transplantation was performed from C57BL/6 to BALB/c mouse. Skin allograft recipients were assigned to four groups (n = 5). CD40 downregulated DCs were injected to the BALB/c mice intravenously 7 days before transplantation. Then, graft survival time, Treg generation, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells infiltration and cytokine levels in serum of this group were compared with those of untreated and cyclosporine groups.
Results:
In comparison with untreated group, BALB/c mice injected with CD40 siRNA transfected DCs showed an increased graft survival time, Treg cells, IL-4 and IL-10 cytokine levels as well as decreased number of intragraft CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. IFN-γ and IL-12 secretion were diminished, too.
Conclusion:
Taken together, these data demonstrate that downregulation of CD40 in DCs can expand Treg cells and increase skin allograft survival.
